"Bell Tea NZ concerned about plantation worker conditions scandal", 10 September 2015

Bell Tea's New Zealand agent says reports of poor working conditions at some Indian tea plantations are of concern.

The BBC has reported conditions in plantations in Assam, northern India, including some supplying Twinings, an English brand of tea for which the Bell Tea and Coffee Company is the sole agent in New Zealand.

Bell Tea's  brewmaster Matt Greenwood said the company was taking the BBC report seriously.

The BBC found "terrible sanitation", workers defecating among tea bushes, wages so low there was malnourishment among tea workers, and poor levels of health and safety.

Twinings...said they would work to improve standards on the tea estates they bought from.

Greenwood said the BBC's report as "very concerning".

Bell Tea bought a small amount of Indian tea, but none of it was sourced from estates featured in the BBC report and it was not used in the Bell brand in New Zealand, Greenwood said...