The Tea Board of India has constituted a national committee on the minimum residue level (MRL) of pesticides in tea. The committee will focus on both domestic and export segments.

The committee is seeking to "integrate the isolated efforts" of the tea industry to tackle the MRL issue.

"This is the first such initiative and it would be a policy-making committee engaging the industry, regulators and other authorities and would formulate a policy regarding MRL in tea," C. S. Bedi, committee chairman, said.

"India, being the largest producer of black tea, would work with other major producers of the commodity like Sri Lanka and Kenya for joint generation of data," said Bedi, who is also the chairman of the Tea Research Association. "The tea industry feels that international action is required to bring about a sensible, practically attainable legislation that ensures protection of the consumer."