CHEMISTRY PROJECT

STUDY OF COMMON
ADULTERANTS IN VARIOUS
FOOD ITEMS
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I acknowledge my whole hearted gratitude to our beloved
chemistry Teacher Mr. S. Jerome Prakash Pravin and the teachers
for supporting and guiding us.

I thank our beloved director Sri. M. V. M. SASI KUMAR for

being our motivational force for the completion of this project.

I extent my thanks to our Principal and vice principal for their

benevolent Nature.

I also extend my thanks to my batch mates and friends for

their helpful observations and elucidation in this project.

Last but not least, I thank the school for providing me all the
facilities for the completion of this project.
 THE VELAMMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Master/Miss of

grade XII has done the project work and submitted for chemistry practical
examination as per the requirement of AISSCE during the academic year
2021 - 2022.

DATE:
PLACE: TEACHER INCHARGE

PRINCIPAL INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

 CONTENTS
1. AIM
2. INTRODUCTION
3. EXPERIMENT REQUIREMENTS
4. EXPERIMENTS
5. Observation table
6. CONCLUSION
7. PRECAUTIONS
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 AIM
The aim of this project is to study
some of the common food adulterants
present in various food items like fat,
oil, vegetable ghee, sugar, chilli
powder, turmeric powder and pepper.
 INTRODUCTION
Food is one of the basic necessities for sustenance of life.
Pure, fresh and healthy diet is most essential for the heal
th of the people. It is no wonder to say that community
health is national wealth.
Food Adulteration can be defined as the practice of
adulterating food or contamination of food materials by
adding a few substances, which are collectively called
adulterants. Adulterants are poor quality products added
to food items for economic and technical benefits.
Adulterants make the food unsafe or sub-standard.
But adulteration of food items was so uncontrolled,
widespread and persistent that a serious remedy in the
form of legislation was needed.
To control this kind of anti-social evil a determined
onslaught was launched by the Government by
introduction of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Bill in
the Parliament to bring an era of much needed hope and
relief for the consumers.
The Bill replaces all local food adulteration laws where
they exist and also applies to those states where there
are no local laws on the subject. It provides for:
1. A Central Food Laboratory to which food samples can
be referred to for final opinion in disputed cases.
2. A Central Committee for Food Standards consisting of
representatives of Central and State Governments to
advise on matters arising from the administration of
the Act.
3. Enabling the Central Government to make rules
regarding standards of quality for the articles of food
and certain other matters.
The increasing number of food producers and the
outstanding amount of imported foodstuffs enables the
producers to mislead and cheat the consumers. To
differentiate between those who take advantage of legal
rules from the ones who commit food adulteration is very
difficult.
The consciousness of consumers should be crucial.
Ignorance and unfair market behavior may endanger
consumer health and can lead to poisoning. So we need
simple screening tests for their detection. In the past few
decades, adulteration of food has become one of the
serious problems. Consumption of adulterated food
causes serious diseases like cancer, diarrhea, asthma,
ulcers, etc. Majority of fats, oils, vegetable ghee and
butter are paraffin wax, castor oil and hydrocarbons. Red
chilli powder is mixed with brick powder and pepper is
mixed with dried papaya seeds. These adulterants can be
easily identified by simple chemical tests. Several
agencies have been set up by the Government of India to
remove such adulterants from food stuffs.
 EXPERIMENT
REQUIREMENTS
1. Test tubes
2. Acetic anhydride
3. Acetic acid
4. Conc. and dil. H2SO4
5. Conc. and dil. HCl
6. Conc. and dil. HNO3
7. KI solution
8. Samples of fat, vegetable ghee, oil, sugar, chilli
powder, turmeric powder and pepper available
commonly.
 EXPERIMENT 1
AIM:
To detect the presence of adulterants in fat, oil and
vegetable ghee.

REQUIREMENTS:
Test-tube, acetic anhydride, conc. H2SO4, acetic acid,
conc. HNO3.

PROCEDURE:
Common adulterants present in ghee and oil are paraffin
wax, hydrocarbons, dyes and argemone oil. These
are detected as follows:

(1) Adulteration of paraffin wax and hydrocarbon in

vegetable ghee:
Heat small amount of vegetable ghee with acetic
anhydride. Droplets of oil floating on the surface of
unused acetic anhydride indicate the presence of wax or
hydrocarbons.
(2) Adulteration of dyes in fat:
Heat 1mL of fat with a mixture of 1mL of conc. sulphuric
acid and 4mL of acetic acid. Appearance of pink or red
colour indicates presence of dye in fat.

(3) Adulteration of argemone oil in edible oils:

To small amount of oil in a test-tube, add few drops
of conc.HNO3 and shake the test-tube. Appearance of red
colour in the acid layer indicates presence of argemone
oil.

RESULT:
Food adulterants like wax and hydrocarbons, dyes and
argemone oil are detected in the samples of vegetable
ghee, fat and oils used above.
 EXPERIMENT 2
AIM:
To detect the presence of adulterants in sugar.

REQUIREMENTS:
Test-tubes, dil. HCl.

PROCEDURE:
Sugar is usually contaminated with washing soda
and other insoluble substances which are detected as
follows:

(1) Adulteration of various insoluble substances in sugar:

Take small amount of sugar in a test-tube and shake it
with little water. Pure sugar dissolves in water but
insoluble impurities do not dissolve.

(2) Adulteration of chalk powder, washing soda in sugar:

To small amount of sugar in a test-tube, add few drops
of dil. HCl. Brisk effervescence of CO2 shows the presence
of chalk powder or washing soda in the given sample of
sugar.
RESULT:
Food adulterants like insoluble substances and washing
soda or chalk powder are detected in the samples of
sugar used above.
 EXPERIMENT 3
AIM:
To detect the presence of adulterants in chilli powder,
turmeric powder and pepper.

REQUIREMENTS:
Test-tubes, conc. HCl, dil. HNO3, KI solution

PROCEDURE:
Common adulterants present in chilli powder, turmeric
powder and pepper are red coloured lead salts, yellow
lead salts and dried papaya seeds respectively. They are
detected as follows:

(1) Adulteration of red lead salts in chilli powder:

To a sample of chilli powder, add dil. HNO3. Filter the
solution and add 2 drops of potassium iodide solution to
the filtrate. Yellow precipitate indicates the presence of
lead salts in chilli powder.
(2)Adulteration of yellow lead salts to turmeric powder:
To a sample of turmeric powder add conc. HCl.
Appearance of magenta colour shows the presence of
yellow oxides of lead in turmeric powder.

(3)Adulteration of brick powder in red chilli powder:

Add small amount of given red chilli powder in beaker
containing water. Brick powder settles at the bottom
while pure chilli powder floats over water.
(4) Adulteration of dried papaya seeds in pepper:
Add small amount of sample of pepper to beaker
containing water and stir with a glass rod. Dried papaya
seeds being lighter float over water while pure pepper
settles at the bottom.

RESULT:
Food adulterants like red lead salts, brick powder, yellow
lead salts and dried papaya seeds are detected in the
samples of chilli powder, turmeric powder and pepper
used above.
 OBSERVATION TABLE
S. EXPERIMENT OBSERVATION INFERENCE
No
1. Adulteration of paraffin Droplets of oil floating Presence of
wax and hydrocarbon in on the surface of wax and
vegetable ghee unused acetic hydrocarbon
anhydride
2. Adulteration of dyes in fat Appearance of pink or Presence of
red colour dyes
3. Adulteration of argemone Appearance of red Presence of
oil in edible oils colour in the acid argemone oil
layer
4. Adulteration of various Insoluble impurities Presence of
Insoluble substances in sugar floating on water insoluble
substances
5. Adulteration of chalk Brisk effervescence of Presence of
powder, washing soda CO2 chalk powder
in sugar or washing
soda
6. Adulteration of red lead Formation of yellow Presence of
salts in chilli powder precipitation red lead salts
7. Adulteration of yellow lead sal Appearance of Presence of
ts to turmeric powder magenta colour yellow lead
salts
8. Adulteration of brick Brick powder settled Presence of
powder in red chilli powder at the bottom brick powder
9. Adulteration of dried Dried papaya seeds Presence of
papaya seeds in pepper floating over water dried papaya
seed
 CONCLUSION
Food adulteration has become very common in the
market. Non adulterated food items have become very
rare to be found. Selection of wholesome and
non-adulterated food is essential for daily life to make
sure that such foods do not cause any health hazard.
It is not possible to ensure wholesome food only on
visual examination when the toxic contaminants are
present in very small amounts. However, visual
examination of the food before purchase will help to
ensure the absence of insects, visual fungus, foreign
substances, etc. Therefore, due care taken by the
consumer at the time of purchase of food after
thoroughly examining will be of great help.
By taking a few precautions, we can escape from
consuming adulterated products and protect our health
from the various hazards caused by the food adulterants.
 PRECAUTIONS
1. Take only packed items of well-known companies.
2. Check the ISI mark or Agmark.
3. Buy products of only air tight popular brands.
4. Avoid craziness for artificially colored sweets and
snacks.
5. Avoid buying things from street side vendors.
6. Avoid taking food from an unhygienic place and food
being prepared under unhygienic conditions.
7. Check the freshness of the food and the period of best
before use.
8. Avoid consumption of cut fruits and vegetables being
sold in unhygienic conditions.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
(1) www.scribd.com
(2) www.wikipedia.com
(3) www.slideshare.net