Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace said on Tuesday that an investigation it had conducted found tea bags sold in China by Unilever's Lipton brand contained unsafe levels of pesticide residue, though Unilever said the product was safe and to standard.
Greenpeace said in a statement that in March it randomly purchased several boxes of Lipton tea bags sold in two Beijing stores and sent them to an independent laboratory for pesticide residue testing.
"The testing found that all four Lipton samples contained pesticides that exceeded the EU's maximum levels of residue, while three samples contained pesticides unapproved by the EU," the group said.
"Some of the detected pesticides are also banned for use in tea production by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture." Greenpeace named one of the pesticides it found as the insecticide Bifenthrin, which is banned in the European Union.
Unilever said in a statement posted on its official Chinese microblogging account and confirmed by a company spokesman that all its Lipton tea products were safe.
"As a responsible multinational company, Unilever China has all along upheld high quality and the protection of consumers' rights. All the Lipton tea products we make are completely in line with national standards on pesticide residue, and are safe and up-to-standard goods," the company wrote.
Last November, China's quality watchdog said one of Unilever's Lipton tea varieties was found to contain unsafe levels of toxins. Unilever said that all those related tea products had been recalled and destroyed.
Lipton sells dozens of varieties of tea in China and is the dominant seller of tea bags in a country where consumers generally drink loose-leaf tea.
China has struggled to rein in health violations in the unruly and vast food sector despite harsh punishments and repeated vows to deal with the problem.
【新闻快讯】4月23日，国际环保组织绿色和平发布调查报告称“立顿”绿茶、茉莉花茶和铁观音袋泡茶含有多种禁用农药，其中硫丹、三氯杀螨醇和联苯菊酯等农药被证明可能影响男性生育能力和胎儿健康，灭多威是高毒农药。绿色和平的调查报告瞬间将全球最大茶叶品牌、联合利华旗下的“立顿”推到了风口浪尖上，有网友惊呼“喝茶也中招，以后不敢再喝立顿了”。
国际环保组织绿色和平的报告说，2012年3月在北京随机购买了四份“立顿”牌袋泡茶，品种分别为红茶、绿茶、茉莉花茶和铁观音。这些样本随后被送往独立的第三方实验室进行农药残留检测。检测结果显示“立顿”绿茶、茉莉花茶和铁观音样本均含有农业部明令禁止在茶树上使用的高毒农药灭多威。累计下来，四种样品共含17种农药。
消息一经披露，立即在网上引起轩然大波，对于网民的质疑，联合利华通过其官方微博表示：“我们注意到绿色和平组织于今日发布了关于立顿的报告。对此联合利华中国郑重声明：作为负责任的跨国公司，联合利华中国一贯坚持高质量、保护消费者权益。我们生产的立顿茶系列饮品完全符合我国国家标准中关于农药残留的规定，是安全和合格的产品。”
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