ADULTERATION IN

FOOD

M.RAMYA
XI AB4

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

Initially I would like to thank my chemistry teacher Mr MS Srinivasan who gave me an

opportunity and helped me get results of better quality. I am also grateful to the management
for their patience and support in overcoming numerous obstacles I have been facing through
my research work.

I would like to thank my fellow class-mates for their feedback, cooperation, and of course
friendship. In addition I would like to express my gratitude to the Xerox centres and the
printing centres.

I would like to thank my friends to expect nothing less than excellence from me. Last but not
the least I would like to thank my mom, dad and brother for supporting me and giving me no
other extra work during my research work.

CONTENT

Introduction
Terms
History
Why is food adulterated?
Types of adulterants
Diseases caused by adulteration
Tests for detecting adulteration in food
Conclusion
Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

ADULTERATION is defined as the process of mixing up extraneous, cheap and

non-edible materials. It is the process in which the quality of food is lowered either by the
addition of inferior quality material or by the extraction of valuable ingredient. Good
nutrition is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle. Combined with physical activity,
your diet can help you to reach and maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of chronic
diseases (like heart disease and cancer), and promote your overall health. So, when good
whealthy food is so important and plays a major role in our lives, consumption of adulterated
food will badly lead to depletion of the human resource. Hope this project provides ample
information about adulterated food!

TERMS

Adulteration-the process of contaminating food

Adulterant- any substance that lessens purity of a material

Adulterator-adulterant

Adulterer-a man who commits the process of adulteration

Adulteress-a woman who does adultery

HISTORY:
Year

Event

14th century A.D.

Common man fined for bringing stale fish,

pig meat & wooden nutmegs into the market

Adulterated wine tested by mixing a small

amount of unicorn's horn powder- colour
change indicated adulteration

1820

Book written by Frederick Accum, 'A Treatise

on Adulterations of Food and Culinary
Poisons'

1848

First national law related to food control

came into existence after the MexicanAmerican War got over; it prohibited
importing drugs that are adulterated in nature

1860

Catalyst for the Food Adulteration Act- Dr. A

H Hassall

1987

Artificially flavoured sugar water sold as

apple juice in the market

1997

Weight of stored grains is more as water is

sprayed on them

2007

Wheat gluten in veterinary food items

adulterated with melamine

2008

Devastating mix of melamine in baby foods

and milk

2012

Adulterants such as detergent, fat and urea

are added to milk

WHY IS FOOD ADULTERATED ?

When the demand is more than the supply in the market.

To come at par with the market competitors by lowering the cost of production.

The greed for increased profit margins.

The common man cannot afford food items with their original constituents.

Lack of trained manpower with out-dated food processing techniques.

No idea about the disease outbreaks caused due to adulterated food products

TYPES OF ADULTERANTS

Intentional - Intentional adulterants are those substances that are added as a deliberate
act on the part of the adulterer with the intention to increase the margin of profit. Eg.
sand, marble chips, stones, mud, chalk powder, water, dyes, etc., These adulterants
cause harmful effects on the body.
Incidental - These adulterants are found in food substances due to ignorance,
negligence or lack of proper facilities. It is not a wilful act on the part of the adulterer.
Eg. pesticides, droppings of rodents, larvae in food.

Metallic mercury from effluents, lead from water, etc.

Food item

Adulterant

Ghee/Butter

Vanaspati

Milk

Water

Ice cream

Metanil yellow

Dals

Kesari dal

Tea leaves

Black/Bengal gram dal husk

with colour

Wheat

Ergot (poisonous fungus)

Sugar

Chalk powder

Turmeric

Coloured saw dust/Metanil

yellow
Chilly powder

Stones

Jaggery powder

Chalk powder

Common salt

White powdered stone, chalk

Mustard seeds

Argemone seeds

Honey

Molasses

Cinnamon

Cassia bark

Coffee

Chicory

DISEASES CAUSED BY ADULTERATION

10

FOOD ARTICLE

ADULTERANT

HARMFUL
EFFECTS

Bengal Gram dhal &

Thoor Dhal

Kesai dhal

Lathyrism cancer

Tea

Used tea leaves processed and

coloured

Liver Disorder

Coffee Powder

Tamarind seed, date seed

powder

Diarrhoea

Chicory powder

Stomach disorder,
Giddiness and joint
pain

Milk

Unhygienic water & Starch

Stomach disorder

Khoa

Starch & Less Fat content

Less - nutritive value

Wheat and other food Ergot (a fungus containing

grains (Bajra)
poisonous substance)

Poisonous

Sugar

Chalk powder

Stomach - Disorder

Black powder

Papaya Seeds and light berries

Stomach, liver
problems

Mustard powder

Argemone seeds

Epidemic dropsy &

Glaucoma

Edible oils

Argemone oil

Loss of eyesight, heart

diseases, tumour

Mineral oil

Damage to liver,
carcinogenic effects

Karanja oil

Heart problems, liver

damage

Castor oil

Stomach problem

Asafoetida

Foreign resins galbanum,

colophony resin

dysentery

Turmeric powder

Yellow aniline dyes

Carcinogenic

Non-permitted colorants like

metanil yellow

Highly Carcinogenic

Tapioca starch

Stomach disorder

Brick powder, saw dust

Stomach problems

Artificial Colours

Cancer

Sweets, Juices, Jam

Non-permitted coal tar dye,

(Metanil Yellow)

Metanil yellow is
toxic and carcinogenic

Jaggery

Washing soda, chalk powder

vomiting, diarrhoea

Pulses (Green peas

and dhal)

coal tar dye

stomach pain, ulcer

Suapari

colour and saccharin

cancer

Honey

Molasses sugar (sugar plus

water)

Stomach disorder

Aluminium leaves

Stomach Disorder

Chilli powder

Carbonated water
beverages

11

TESTS FOR DETECTING ADULTERATION IN FOOD

The adulterants present in different food items can be easily identified by simple tests
described below:
1. Vanaspati in Ghee or Butter:
Take small amount of desi ghee or butter in test-tube. Heat the test-tube to melt the ghee. Add
to an equal amount of conc. HCl and a small amount of sugar. Shake the contents vigorously
for a minute and allow the tube to stand for about five minutes. Appearance of crimson colour
in the lower acid layer shows that vanaspati ghee has been mixed as an adulterant to desi
ghee.
2. Paraffin wax and Hydrocarbons in Vanaspati Ghee:
Heat small amount of vanaspati ghee with acetic anhydride. Droplets of oil floating on the
surface of unused acetic anhydride indicate the presence of wax or hydrocarbon.
3. Argemone oil in Edible oil:
To small amount of oil in a test-tube, and few drops of conc. HNO 3 and shake. Appearance of
red colour in the acid layer indicates presence of argemone oil.
4. Brick powder in red chilli powder:
Add small amount of chilli powder in beaker containing water. Brick powder settles at the
bottom while pure chilli powder floats over water.
5. Metanil Yellow in Dal:
Take about 5 g of dal in a test-tube and add about 5 ml of water to it. Shake the contents well
and add a few drops of hydrochloric acid (HCl). Appearance of pink colour indicates the
presence of metanil yellow.
6. Lead chromite in Turmeric Powder:

12

Take a small amount of sample turmeric powder in a test-tube and add to it dil. HNO 3. Filter
and filtrate add a few drops of potassium iodide solution. Appearance of yellow precipitate
indicates the presence of lead salts as adulter.

CONCLUSION
Selection of wholesome non-adulterated food is highly essential for daily life to make sure
that such foods do not cause any health hazards. It is not possible to ensure that wholesome
food on visual examination when the toxic contaminants are present in ppm levels.
Firstly visual examination of food before purchase make sure to ensure absence of insects,
visual fungus, foreign matter, etc. therefore due care taken by the person at the time of
purchase of food after thoroughly after examining can be of great help.
Secondly label declaration on packaged food is very important for knowing the ingredients
and nutritional value. It also helps in checking the freshness of the food and the period of best
before use.
The consumer should avoid taking food from an unhygienic place and food being prepared
under unhygienic conditions. Such types of foods may cause various types of diseases.it is
always good to buy certified food from reputed shops.

13

BIBLIOGRAPHY
www.foodsafetyhelpline.com

www.preservearticles.com

www.studymode.com

www.writeexpress.com

www.qualitycontrolperson.com

www.allprojectreports.com

Clean up your diet

Food safety laws

14