UK tea brands drop Indian supplier over work conditions

The Rainforest Alliance, an ethical certification organisation, has now stripped a group of Assam Company’s plantations of its green frog seal.

The Assam Company said it was appealing against the decision. A group of Assam Company’s estates lost its certification because “it was found to be in breach of critical criteria relating to the use of personal protective equipment”, the Rainforest Alliance said in a statement.

The Assam Company said the loss of its certification was because of a “minor error” on one estate – Hajua – while spraying a plant extract, which it understood did not require personal protective equipment. It said that because the Assam company estates operate in a “single cluster”, the other estates were automatically decertified.

Twinings, Taylors of Harrogate and Fortnum & Mason have suspended business with the company while Harrods took the tea off its shelves shortly after the investigation, which was broadcast in September…

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