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| Sunday, 30 June 2002 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Tea - the healthier way to a slimmer body Tea, the thirst quencher, the gift of the British to Sri Lanka and one of the major foreign exchange earners for the country, is now acclaimed as a health drink. But whoever thought that it can lead to a slimmer body? "That is exactly what it does," says Thusith Fernando, Executive Director of Global Village Lanka, producers of Rain Hill Slimming Tea. He said the product is natural and contains plant extracts including garcinia. It does not contain artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. According to research, drinking 'slimming tea' three times a day one hour before meals for three months will help achieve a substantial weight loss. "We started five years back by selling regular black teas. But one and a half years down the line, we changed to natural herbal products as there is a great demand for natural products by health conscious people today," Fernando said. "Before embarking on producing natural herbal products, we got an opportunity to participate in a project conducted by AgEnt on 'Helping Sri Lanka to Grow'. Through this project, we came to know the Director - Research and Development of the Ministry of Land, Land Development and Export Agriculture Dr D.B.T. Wijeratne. "Meeting Dr Wijeratne was a turning point and we got technical advice from the Food Research Unit of the Department of Agriculture in Peradeniya," said Fernando. The company manufactures cinnamon, cardamom, tropical fruit, clove and ginger-flavoured tea in addition to ayurvedic aphrodisiac tea, a herbal drink and two flavours of soups. All the herbs are purchased from small growers in Tissamaharama where Rain Hill has a collection centre. "This way we ensure that we get natural herbs and not fakes. It is also an income source for them," he added. The herbal drink is made of leaves, barks, seeds, flowers and roots of polpala, ranawara, neeramulliya, velmi, babila, iramusu and belimal. Since the drink is made of herbs, it does not have any side effects. Mr Fernando said that it can be used as a medicine for diabetes, heart ailments, hepatitis, abdominal discomfort, liver, skin diseases and indigestion. After much research, Rain Hill has added two more products - instant soup with gotukola and garlic. Both are made of natural ingredients. It is said that gotukola increases memory power while garlic is good for the heart. The company was established five years ago as a family concern. "My brother Sampath, the Managing Director of the company began his career as a planter. Using his knowledge of tea, we started in a small way with regular teas," he said. At present the company exports to Germany, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia and Central America. Rain Hill products are available at all leading supermarkets. Speaking of future plans, he said the company is planning to explore markets in European countries, Japan and North America while research is under way to introduce more flavoured teas, drinks and soups to the market. "Executive Director - Research and Product Development Sudhani Perera, a BSc Honours graduate specialised in food science, plays a major role in developing natural innovative products such as gotukola soup, garlic soup and natural fruit tea. It has created a new trend and is in great demand among health conscious customers. The demand for natural products has given us the strength to develop more healthy products," he added. |
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