In a single month three founders in Brazil wrote to us about launching a tea brand — one with two blends sketched out, one asking to start from our ready blends, one combining tea with dried fruit. Their questions overlapped, and the largest of them was regulatory: what has to be in place for a herbal tea produced in Türkiye to be sold in Brazil under their own brand. This article answers from the producer's side, and is explicit about what belongs to the importer.
Two agencies, one classification
Brazil divides food and agricultural imports between two bodies. ANVISA, the national health regulatory agency, regulates processed foods, which includes teas sold as food, and sets the rules for the product, the permitted botanicals and the label. MAPA, the agriculture ministry, oversees fresh plant products, beverages and phytosanitary control of plant material.
Which procedures apply is decided by the product's customs classification. A packed herbal tea for retail sits with ANVISA as a food; the importer confirms the classification for the specific product before the first shipment is planned, because the paperwork follows from it.
The list of authorised species
The rule a blend has to be planned against is ANVISA's Normative Instruction 159/2022, which lists the parts of plant species authorised for the preparation of teas, giving the common name, the authorised part of the plant and the scientific name, with supplementary requirements where they apply. The list has been amended since to add species.
A blend for the Brazilian market is designed from that list. A botanical that is not on it is not a tea ingredient for Brazil without a separate assessment, however common it is elsewhere. Chamomile, lemongrass, lavender, hibiscus, apple and mint — the ingredients in the sketches we received — are the sort of thing the list is checked for before a sample is made, and it is the first thing we check.
The Portuguese label
Labelling is governed by RDC 727/2022, ANVISA's general rule for food labelling — product name, ingredient list, net content, origin, responsible party, date marking and the rest — with the nutrition declaration under RDC 429/2020 and IN 75/2020. Those two also brought in front-of-pack nutrition warnings for products that meet certain thresholds; for an unsweetened herbal infusion that is usually not an issue, but it is checked rather than assumed.
The label is designed for the Brazilian rules in Portuguese. It is not the English or Turkish box translated. It is the importer's responsibility as the party placing the product on the market, and the packer prints what the importer approves.
Who does what
A foreign producer does not deal with ANVISA directly. A legally established Brazilian company — the importer, which may be the brand owner's own company — takes responsibility for the product on the Brazilian market. Whether a given product requires prior registration or only compliance with the applicable rules depends on its category, and the importer confirms that for the specific product.
The producer's side is concrete: a blend specified against the species list, a written specification, samples, batch documentation and export paperwork, and a retail pack printed to the approved artwork. For a brand starting with a small online range, a stock blend from an existing library keeps the first run simple; the documentation behind it is the same as for a custom blend.
Where we sit
We plan a Brazilian blend against the authorised species list from the first conversation, so that nothing is sampled that cannot be sold. We produce string-and-tag bags, each individually enveloped, or the format you specify, from our line in Sındırgı; a founder who wants to start from our ready blends can, and one who wants two custom blends developed can do that too. We provide the specification, samples and documentation the importer needs, and the importer's classification and the Portuguese label are settled at the start of the project rather than after production. Volumes and prices are confirmed at quotation.
