Did foreign countries ban the sale of "Healthia" tea because it's harmful to the liver? No, that's not true: Kao Cosmetics, the company that produces "Healthia" and other lines of tea, responded in a Q&A segment that their products have fallen under the Food Security guidelines for the past ten years. Furthermore, the sale of "Healthia" is not banned in foreign countries, as availabilities for the tea can be seen on Amazon and other retailers outside of Japan.
The claim appeared on TikTok (archived here) on July 26, 2023. The video explains that the sale of "Healthia" has been banned in foreign countries because it was proven that the tea has negative effects on the liver. The caption on the TikTok reads (Translated from Japanese into English by Lead Stories Staff):
Trivia facts about tea
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Jul 28 15:23:40 2023 UTC)
Kao Cosmetics, the manufacturer of the Healthia tea line, has confirmed in a Q&A segment that any claim surrounding their catechin-infused teas and its connections to negative effects on the liver is fake news. Additionally, Kao Cosmetics has also confirmed that their products have been following the guidelines set by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, which means that their products have been adhering to the Food Securities Act for the past ten years. Furthermore, the sale of "Healthia" is not banned in foreign countries, as third-party US retailers and Amazon outside of Japan sell the tea in bulk.
A search for the phrase "Healthia bad for the liver", using Google News' index of thousands of credible news sites did not reveal any factual reports that the tea was banned anywhere outside of Japan.
