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Why is There Soy in My Hain Celestial Tea?

28 Replies

We recently got an email from Amy, a fooducate community member:

I drink a lot of tea. Often, the ingredients list says “natural flavors” at the end, then says

“Contains: Soy.”

I assume it is warning about soy because something in the natural flavors contains this potential allergen. So…what is the natural flavor made of?

When my husband and I scanned a Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset box of tea with the Fooducate app, we saw that it contains soy lecithin, an emulsifier, and your explanation of how that is used in candy bars and baked goods. But we couldn’t figure out what would need binding in a tea bag.

Any insight you could lend would be appreciated.

We looked into the matter and have somewhat of an answer for you, Amy.

What you need to know:

On Hain Celestial website, there is a FAQ section that includes the following info:

Soy lecithin is a soy-based emulsifier (used to keep ingredients from separating) found in the natural flavors we use in some of our teas. All products that contain soy lecithin are clearly labeled on our packages and the product pages on our website. If you have any questions about soy lecithin, please send us an email at consumerrelations@hain-celestial.com.

So we emailed the company asked for more details. Here was the response:

Thank you for taking the time blah blah blah…

The soy lecithin in our tea keeps the ingredients smoothly blended together and prevents clumping.

Thank you blah blah blah…

Since some of you are going to ask about GMO, we went ahead and emailed the company about this as well. The answer:

Thank you for taking the time blah blah blah…

The soy lecithin is not from a GMO source.

Thank you blah blah blah…

We asked, but did not get an answer to why Soy Lecithin is being used in the first place, and if there aren’t any anti-clumping ingredients. Our guess – this is the cheapest way to extend shelf life.

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  • jnwalsh1

    Never in my life have I experienced “clumpy” tea.  They just throw soy in everything now, don’t they?

  • Ayton

    Sorry fooducate, but you have successfully made yourselves look like fools for not knowing to extremely vast use of lecithin. It is NOT a preservative and stating that it is simply the “cheapest way of extending shelf life” has just made you look completely un-educated. I would remove this story if you want your readers to continue to respect you.

    • MOI

      Well, then, what is it?

    • anonymous

      Add my vote down to your total, Ayton. Anyone can vote up, but you need to log in to vote down…wow, just as bad as facebook

  • http://www.palateworks.com Carol

    If you want flavored tea, you should expect more than just tea as an ingredient. As for lecithin, it is most likely being used to encapsulate the flavoring (which is usually a volatile ingredient) so that it will keep longer and not be destroyed upon impact with air and hot water… plus it helps control the release of the flavor throughout the “life” of your cup of tea. You could also brew your own plain tea and add a drop of almond and/or vanilla extract if you want a flavored tea.

    • Julesd

      I have never had a problem with my own added natural ingredients for the “life” of my cup! I am so disgusted with all of the research I have been doing. Now I understand why I have stage 3 breast cancer at age 35!!! It is wrong for us to not be educated about the crap that is in the food we eat!!

      • Dar

        I’m really sorry to hear that! You should be able to sue the FDA for not informing the public about additives that are potentially dangerous to our health. After all, they are there to protect us, not the corporations who manufacture this stuff!

    • http://www.facebook.com/denny.gregg.10 Denny Gregg

      Lets add some MSG (monosodium Glutenate) and make it taste even more delightful!!!!!!!!!!! America ! Land of chemically adulterated food. Such heaven.

  • Amy Delamaide

    Thanks for asking about this. The lecithin article on Wikipedia offers another clue: lecithin “helps complete dispersion in water.” Carol, good ideas for flavoring tea.

    • green man

      Lecithin is close to like to drinking acid to my body

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  • Tam Shannon

    They still have a few varieties that do not contain ‘natural flavors’ or soy lecithin (Peppermint,  Sleepytime).  Hopefully this won’t change.

    • anonymous

      Just plant mint in a pot. I did at the office and just pick a leaf or two when I want mint tea or minty tea. Vote with your dollars. Spend them on something you need.

  • Sharen

    In response to the last  sentence in the above article, about the need to extend shelf life, I guess my question is, just how long do you expect to keep a box/tin of tea?  Shouldn’t you drink and consume it in at least a month or two at the most?  I really don’t want any soy in my products, thank you.

    • Dar

      The reason is to keep it on the grocery store shelves for as many years as they can if they aren’t able to sell it right away!

      • Dar

        I, myself, am sick & tired of additives in my foods that are only there to benefit the business in the sense of higher profit and not a care for the people who consume them.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/jason.millmann Jason Millmann

    I’m going GMO-free (best I can since I live in the US) and was surprised to see soy in my tea. Even though they say non-gmo I’m pretty sure it is gmo otherwise they would state “non gmo soy lecithin” Anyway switching to Choice, Eden, or Numi teas.

    • http://www.facebook.com/eileen.rose.397 Eileen Rose

      You can also make the assumption Hain-Celestial IS using gmo soy in their tea based on who is their parent company and how many millions they contributed to Monsanto’s NO on Proposition 37 in California last nov.

    • Dar

      I will too!

  • Tiffany

    Soy lecithin is an unnecessary ingredient that I’ve found in so many more things recently. It acts as a binder and emulsifier, but outside of those specific uses it does not need to be used. I’m highly allergic to it, so I really resent it being put into everything. I haven’t heard anything about it extending shelf life, I don’t know how it would do that. Herbal tea, for god’s sake, it’s just herbs, leave it alone, big companies, there are too many health sensitivities to soy!

    • http://www.facebook.com/denny.gregg.10 Denny Gregg

      Yeah ! I go through the same hell every week attempting to buy food without milk in it (extreme Lactose intollerance). The only good side of it is that I’ve discovered I can’t go through life just eating whatever comes my way like so many other people who are being poisoned by the highly centralized American food industry. The price (cheapness, or profit, health be damned) rules the day with these giants. And now for the future of the food industry coming to a super market near you already—food processed in Communist China. You get bacteria, lead, anti-freeze, and who knows what else in your food—recent poisonings: thousands of pets, baby food, toothpaste etc., and American worker unemployment. Did you know there is only one cannery left in the USA that processes Tuna—its in Southern California—Chicken of the Sea. All other brands are foreign and the cheapest is coming from—you guessed it, the Communist dictatorship of China. Our lives are getting so much better here in America as our two-headed monster political party the Democrat/Republican siamese twins sell out to the highest bidders.

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  • Dannyboy

    There poisoning us one milligram at a time!

  • bet you want post this

    im am definatly not an expert, but it seems to me that due to gov. backing of soy; and that meaning soy is one of the largest cultavated crops in america. So, when gov. money is spent on something like a cash crop, companies “better” find plenty of use for that paticular crop. Then when all is said and done with each individual “soy product” production process, I’m willing to bet there is plenty of bi-product of soy. And ask yourself a question if a company has the choice of paying to dispose of a substance or using it a little here a little there to further stretch there products, in effect increase their bottom line, what do you think there going to do? Maybe there is not anything ethically wrong here. On the other hand, why or what ( or who ) is the real paticular reason of soy backing from big Gov. there is a reason why ,generally, most bi-products are considered waste. i’m not saying this is always the case. however I am also some one who doesn’t want soy in almost everything on the shelves of a typical grocery store just some company that doesn’t care anything about me can get even richer.

  • Julesd

    I don’t believe it for a second!! Only about 5 percent of soybeans in the USA are not GMOs. They would clearly label their cartons! LIARS!

    • anonymous

      Did they say the nongmo source is domestic?

  • http://twitter.com/AskLeahRenee Ask Leah Renee

    I noticed the same thing recently but, same as you, I cannot think of a good reason to use that! I am an avid tea drinker and none of the other tea’s I purchase (if I am not using loose leaf) contain that additive! The product would in fact then contain GMO’s since it is not otherwise labeled as certified organic (so their sources would be from GM soy). Hopefully, one day, large corporations will also consider how their products affect the users and not just their pocketbooks.