New Delhi, Aug. 7 :     Tea will remain a vegetarian drink. Asserting that 'flavours of animal origin' have never been used in the manufacture of tea, the Centre today said it had made sure the beverage would stay vegetarian. Union health minister C.P. Thakur stressed: 'Flavoured tea has in the past always been an entirely vegetarian product and will continue to be so in future also.' The Centre has changed two rules in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act to ensure that no animal flavours can be used in tea. The changes were incorporated on August 2 after media reports that flavours of 'animal origin' were being used by tea manufacturers made some people jittery. With the Sangh parivar taking up the issue and animal rights activists like Maneka Gandhi threatening to join the bandwagon of protesters, the government was under intense pressure to set the controversy at rest. Scrambling to straighten the record, the health ministry clarified that prior to an amendment of October 11, 1999 in the food Act, only a few 'vegetarian' flavours were permitted in the manufacture. Some new flavours were allowed after the amendment because 'there was a demand from the tea industry that, with the increasing variety of niche products in the market, there was a need to be more flexibile about the flavours'. The limited list of specific flavours permissible for tea was then deleted. The amendment made tea subject to the general provisions for flavours in the food Act, that applies to all products for which there are no specific provisions. The government agreed that under the Act, products could be flavoured with substances of vegetable or animal origin.