HONG KONG: Health authority orders tea removal - report

17 June 2009 | Source: just-drinks.com editorial team

The Hong Kong Department of Health has ordered three Chinese herbal tea shops to stop selling teas due to possibly contamination with Western drug ingredients, according to reports.

Samples taken from herbal tea shops in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon City and Tai Wo Hau contained either paracetamol or both paracetamol and chlorpheniramine and may cause "serious side effects", the government department said, according to local reports.

The shops concerned were instructed to "immediately" stop selling the herbal teas.

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Department of Health could not be immediately reached for comment.