Food safety standards around the world
Keeping a close watch around the world for nearly 30 years
We
go to great lengths to ensure the safety of our products. In
all the tea gardens, factories and countries in which our products
are made, Metropolitan Tea works to ensure that our high food safety
standards are continually enforced.
Self imposed safety standards
We believe in preventative
policing of our supply chain. We’re proud of the
fact that our policies have been in place for as long as we’ve
been in business. Although such testing is not mandated by
the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection agency) or USFDA (US Food and
Drug Administration), all teas and accessories are tested for contaminants
that could affect their safety. (Testing of this nature has
become incredibly important given recent developments with overseas
food producers.)
Metropolitan Tea makes annual visits to our suppliers. If on any visit we see that proper procedures are not being followed, that producer will be dropped from our supplier list. All visits are properly documented and followed-up with thorough trip reports. Site inspections to gardens and factories include checking the following:
- employee hygiene
- hand washing
- proper use and storage of clothing in all facilities
- use of appropriate footwear, headwear, equipment and utensils
- employee health and injury status
- regulated traffic flow
- chemical usage (kept to a minimum)
- identification of allergens and related controls and procedures (where appropriate)
HACCP
Like Metropolitan Tea itself, many
of our suppliers are also HACCP certified.
For more information on HACCP certification, click here.
Testing
Continual testing or our supplier’s products
are an important part of our food safety program. Everything
from potential chemical residue, to non-organic agricultural additives
and product integrity comes under close scrutiny.
- Click here to read about a recent test carried out on a potentially new “stainless steel” infuser.
Safe tea tastes better
Suutei Tsai, Mongolian tea, is made by putting leaves in a pan of water, boiling it briefly, adding milk and boiling it again. Instead of stirring the tea, ladles of the hot liquid are lifted out and splashed back into the pan. The tea is then salted and strained into a teapot.