FSSAI's draft pesticide limits for tea: what an MRL means for chai

This article is general information, not medical advice. It explains a draft residue limit and the tea guidance already in the Indian dietary guidelines. It does not test a tea, name a garden, or tell you to change a medicine.

On 17 October 2026 the Press Information Bureau published FSSAI's account of a draft amendment on pesticide residues in tea. The same week, The Hindu, News on Air and The Times of India reported it. A dried-fruit residue question from earlier in the month is a different food and a different enforcement story: Pesticide residues in dried fruit.

The draft, and the sixty days

PIB says the draft Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2026, were published in the Gazette of India on 16 October 2026. The limits, PIB says, are meant as regulatory benchmarks for compliance, monitoring and enforcement, subject to finalisation of the draft.

The notification text carried by Gazette Tracker for CG-DL-E-17102026-277222 is dated New Delhi, 15 October 2026, file F. No. SS-T0SP02(NOTI)/1/2025-Standard-FSSAI. It is made in exercise of clauses (i) and (j) of sub-section (2) of section 92 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and published as required by sub-section (1) of that section. It says the draft shall be taken into consideration after sixty days from the date on which copies of the Gazette containing the notification are made available to the public. Objections or suggestions may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi 110002, or emailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in. Suggestions received inside that period shall be considered.

Read that as a proposal. Do not tell a shop or a garden that the numbers are already the limit in force. PIB's link to the e-Gazette is a session address on egazette.gov.in. The figures below are the ones PIB states and the ones the Gazette Tracker text prints. They match each other.

The two numbers, and what an MRL is

The draft amends regulation 2.3, on residues, in the table under sub-regulation 2.3.1. Against serial number 3, acetamiprid, it would insert a row for tea at 20 mg/kg. Against serial number 103, imidacloprid, it would insert a row for tea at 50 mg/kg. Both rows are inserted after the existing entries for those pesticides. PIB writes the same limits as 20 mg/kg (20 ppm) and 50 mg/kg (50 ppm).

PIB's definition is the one to keep: maximum residue limits "specify the maximum legally permitted concentration of pesticide residues in food commodities" and "are established on the basis of scientific assessments, taking into account pesticide residue data, dietary exposure and relevant safety considerations." The Times of India, on 18 October 2026, adds the household reading: they provide benchmarks, and they do not indicate the amount necessarily present in a particular sample.

The food named in the draft row is "Tea". The notification does not mention a brewed cup, a teaspoon of leaf, or a transfer from leaf into liquor. The Times of India quotes a doctor saying the proposed limits need a realistic look at consumer exposure, and that because tea is drunk several times a day it matters how much of the chemicals passes from the leaves into the brew. That is a comment in a newspaper. It is not a measured percentage, and this page does not invent one. A ceiling on the commodity is not the residue in your cup, and a cup that tastes ordinary is not evidence that the leaf met or missed the draft.

PIB also says the proposed 20 ppm for acetamiprid is lower than corresponding limits of 30 ppm in Japan and 50 ppm in the United States, and that the imidacloprid figure was formulated with reference to international Codex standards. The release does not print the Codex number. This page does not add one. PIB describes the draft as part of a longer review. It says the 2024 amendment of the same contaminant regulations reviewed MRLs against scientific data and international practice, and that earlier measures included delisting 13 pesticides identified as having higher toxicity. The 13 names are not in the release. They are not listed here.

A separate sentence in the same release says India's average pesticide use, at less than 0.5 kg per hectare, is below an estimated global average of 2.38 kg per hectare, and lower than levels reported for Colombia, Brazil and the United States. That is a national average for agriculture. It is not a residue in tea, and it is not a reason to ignore a limit that applies to tea.

What this does not tell you to do in the kitchen

The PIB note is addressed to growers, processors, food businesses, laboratories and enforcement. It does not give a buying rule for a household, and it does not describe a rinse, a brew time or a brand that removes a residue. This page does not add those steps. Washing guidance in the dietary guidelines is for vegetables and fruit. It is not a method for dry tea.

If you want a residue question pursued for a dried ingredient that a manufacturer buys by the bag, that is the dried-fruit note linked above. It is not a home test for chai.

How much tea the dietary guidelines actually discuss

The Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, in the section on tea and coffee, say tea and coffee contain caffeine, which stimulates the central nervous system and induces physiological dependence. A cup of 150 ml, the book says, contains 30 to 65 mg of caffeine in tea, 80 to 120 mg in brewed coffee, and 50 to 65 mg in instant coffee. Moderation is advised so that caffeine intake does not exceed the tolerable limit the book prints, 300 mg a day.

The book does not turn that into a number of cups of tea. The arithmetic of its own range is all this page will add, and it is arithmetic, not a recommendation:

Four cups at 65 mg are 260 mg, which is under 300.
Five cups at 65 mg are 325 mg, which is over 300.
Ten cups at 30 mg are 300 mg.

A cup in a house may be stronger or weaker than either end, larger or smaller than 150 ml, and taken with milk. None of that is in the caffeine sentence. The book also says excessive consumption of tea should be avoided because of caffeine. It does not define "excessive" as a cup count beyond the 300 mg line.

Pregnancy is stricter than that line. In Guideline 2 the book says excess intake of beverages containing caffeine, such as coffee and tea, adversely affects fetal growth and hence should be minimized. That is not an invitation to sit at 300 mg. The pregnancy plate, and the notices about drinks that promise birth weight, are in Pregnancy and breastfeeding nutrition drinks.

Tea and iron, which is a timing rule

The same tea-and-coffee section says tannin in tea and coffee interferes with iron absorption, so tea and coffee should be avoided for at least one hour before and after meals.

The pregnancy pages say it in two further wordings. A list of don'ts says not to consume tea, coffee and other caffeinated drinks along with meals or soon after meals. The iron box says beverages like tea bind dietary iron and make it unavailable, and that tea should be avoided before, during or soon after a meal, or while taking iron-folic acid supplements. A later iron note for other ages says beverages like tea should be avoided for at least an hour before, during or soon after a meal.

This page does not collapse those sentences into one clock time. The shared point is the meal and the iron tablet, not the pesticide draft. Keeping tea an hour off a meal does not tell you whether a leaf meets a residue limit.

The guidelines also say plant foods are a poorer source of absorbable iron than flesh foods, and that vitamin C-rich fruit with a meal, such as guava, pineapple and citrus, improves absorption from plant foods. That is why the timing matters. It is not a claim that tea causes anaemia, and it is not a claim that a fruit cures it.

The October draft would put a legal ceiling on two pesticide residues in tea, at 20 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg, after a 60-day comment period. It does not measure your cup. For the cup itself, the dietary guidelines talk about caffeine in a 150 ml pour and about leaving tea off the meal so iron can be absorbed.

This article is general information, not medical advice.

Sources

Questions

Is the tea limit already law?

No. PIB, on 17 October 2026, says the draft Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2026, were published in the Gazette on 16 October 2026. The notification text carried by Gazette Tracker is dated 15 October 2026 and says the draft will be taken into consideration after sixty days from the date copies of the Gazette are made available to the public. Objections go to the Chief Executive Officer, FSSAI, FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi 110002, or to regulation@fssai.gov.in. Until it is final, it is a proposal.

What numbers does the draft print?

In regulation 2.3.1, the draft would insert a tea row of 20 mg/kg against acetamiprid (serial 3) and a tea row of 50 mg/kg against imidacloprid (serial 103). PIB equates those figures with 20 ppm and 50 ppm. The rows are inserted after existing entries for those two pesticides. This page does not describe any other pesticide, and it does not say what a laboratory would find in a particular tea.

Does 20 mg/kg mean that much pesticide is in a cup?

No. PIB says a maximum residue limit is the maximum legally permitted concentration of a pesticide residue in a food commodity, set from residue data, dietary exposure and safety considerations. The Times of India, on 18 October 2026, says an MRL does not indicate the amount necessarily present in a particular sample. The draft names the food as "Tea". It does not print a figure for brewed liquor, and this page found no transfer figure from leaf to cup in the PIB release or the notification.

How much tea do the dietary guidelines allow?

They do not print a cup count. They say a 150 ml cup of tea contains 30 to 65 mg of caffeine, and that tea and coffee should be moderated so caffeine does not exceed 300 mg a day. Four cups at the top of that range are 260 mg. Five cups at 65 mg are 325 mg, which is over 300. Ten cups at 30 mg are 300 mg. A real cup can sit anywhere in between. In pregnancy the same book says excess caffeine from tea and coffee should be minimized, which is a separate instruction.

Why the advice to keep tea away from meals?

The guidelines say tannin in tea and coffee interferes with iron absorption, and that tea and coffee should be avoided for at least one hour before and after meals. A pregnancy "don't" says not to take tea, coffee and other caffeinated drinks along with meals or soon after. An iron box says tea should be avoided before, during or soon after a meal, or while taking iron-folic acid tablets, because it binds dietary iron. Those sentences are about iron. They are not a reading of the pesticide draft.

Is this medical advice?

No. It is a reading of a PIB release, a gazette draft, three news reports and the Dietary Guidelines for Indians. It is general information, not medical advice. A named dietitian has not reviewed this draft. It does not say your tea is unsafe, and it does not say a brand is clean.