Importance and prior considerations for development and utilization of tea bags: A critical review

Estimated daily intake of epichlorohydrin and certain heavy metals of bagged and loose black teas

This study aimed to determine the levels of epichlorohydrin (ECH) and some metals in 3 brands of bagged and loose black teas which are widely marketed in Alexandria markets, Egypt, and estimate the acceptable daily intake as a safety indicator. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results revealed that ECH levels significantly differed between the tested brands steeped for 2 min and tea bags contained higher levels than in loose teas and the levels increased by increasing the steep time. These levels of ECH in all the tested brands either in tea bags or loose teas were higher than the guideline value of 0.10 μg/L. Also, the results illustrated that the adding of sucrose or washing of bags with deionized water for 1 min significantly decreased the levels of ECH. In addition, inductively coupled plasma optic emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) results illustrated that the levels of Al, Pb, and Cd were too low in infusions compared to the established guidelines. Because of the high consumption of tea in Alexanria city, Egypt, it is necessary to determine the contribution of tea to the daily dietary intake of ECH, Al, Pb and Cd. In case of the bagged teas, the calculated daily intake of ECH was on average about 55.37 times greater than that in loose teas. The consumption of both bagged and loose teas infusion could not pose a risk for population as the health hazard index was < 1. It can be concluded that consumers who prefer to use tea bags should rinse these bags before preparing the tea brewer, and do not increase the steeping time to more than 2 min.

Concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and lead in herbal infusion tea bags marketed in Tacna, Peru

The concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and lead in infusion tea bags of Camellia sinensis (tea), Pimpinella anisum (anise), Matricaria recutita (chamomile), Peumus boldus (boldo), and Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) were determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GFAAS) for four commercial brands sold in Tacna, Peru, to compare these concentrations with international standards. The moderate level of arsenic obtained for C. sinensis (0.294 mg kg^-1) exceeded the Codex Alimentarius standard for three of the four analyzed brands, while the level of arsenic in P. boldus (0.220 mg kg^-1) exceeded the same standard and the Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR) parameters for only one brand. The moderate level of cadmium outlined in the Codex Alimentarius and by the World Health Organization (WHO) was exceeded by two infusion tea bag brands of M. recutita (0.210 mg kg^-1) and one brand of C. citratus (0.134 mg kg^-1). Finally, based on the MERCOSUR parameters, moderate levels of lead were exceeded by only one brand of C. citratus (0.535 mg kg^-1). To evaluate possible health risks, we also calculated the hazard index (HI) of the heavy metals in the target herbal tea bags. The values obtained were less than 1, showing negligible noncarcinogenic health risks for consumers. Despite this information and because of the elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, and lead obtained in some of our results, we suggest more detailed studies to obtain more information about the potential toxicity of these products to humans.