CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT

Study of adulteration of food Stuff

For Session 2023-2024

Done By: Avichal Bhattacharjee

Under The Guidance Of:

DPS Ruby Park, Kolkata

 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Avichal Bhattacharjee of class XII has successfully
completed his investigatory project on the topic “Study of adulteration of
food stuff” during academic year 2023-24, as per the guidelines issued by
the central board of secondary education (CBSE).

This project is absolutely genuine and does not indulge in plagiarism of any
kind. The references taken in making this project have been mentioned at
this project.

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

PRINCIPAL
 CONTENTS
1. Certificate
2. Acknowledgement
3. Objective
4. Introduction
5. Theory
6. Experimental Work
❖ Aim
❖ Apparatus required
❖ Procedure
❖ Observations
❖ Result & Precautions
❖ Conclusion
7. Bibliography
 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my teacher ……….. who was

a constant source of encouragement and valuable advices. This project
wouldn’t have come to a successful completion without his guidance.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents for being there with
continuing support morally and financially.

Avichal Bhattacharjee
 Objective

The Objective of this project is to study some of the

common food adulterants present in different food stuffs.

AIM
Food is one of the basic necessities for sustenance of life.
Pure, fresh and healthy diet is most essential for the health
of the people. It is no wonder to say that community health
is national wealth.

Adulteration of food-stuffs was so rampant, widespread

and persistent that nothing short of a somewhat drastic
remedy in the form of a comprehensive legislation became
the need of the hour.

To check this kind of anti-social evil a concerted and

determined onslaught was launched by the Government by
introduction of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Bill in the
Parliament to herald an era of much needed hope and relief for
the consumers at large. About the middle of the 19th cent.
chemical and microscopal knowledge had reached the stage
that food substances could be analyzed, and the subject of
food adulteration began to be studied from the standpoint of
the rights and welfare of the consumer.
Theory

The increasing number of food producers and the outstanding

amount of import foodstuffs enables the producers to mislead
and cheat consumers.

To differentiate those who take advantage of legal rules

from the ones who commit food adulteration is very
difficult. The consciousness of consumers would be crucial.
Ignorance and unfair market behavior may endanger
consumer health and misleading 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, diarrhoea, asthma,
ulcers, etc. Majority of fats, oils 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 adulterants from food stuffs.

AGMARK - acronym for agricultural marketing.........this

organization certifies food products for their quality. Its objective
is to promote the Grading and Standardization of agricultural
and allied commode.

Experiment 1
Aim:

To detect the presence of adulterants in fat, oil and butter.

APPARATUS REQUIRED :

Test-tube, acetic anhydride, conc. H2SO4, acetic acid, conc.

HNO3.
PROCEDURE :

Common adulterants present in ghee and oil are paraffin

wax, hydrocarbons, dyes and agrimony oil. These are
detected as follows.
 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 indicates the
presence of wax or hydrocarbons.

 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.

 Adulteration of argemone oil in edible oils To small

amount of oil in a test-tube, add few drops of conc.
HNO3 and shake. Appearance of red colour in the
acid layer indicates presence of argemone oil.
Experiment 2

AIM:

To detect the presence of adulterants in sugar.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:

Test-tubes, dil. HCl.

PROCEDURE:

 Sugar is usually contaminated with washing soda and

other insoluble substances which are detected as
follows :
 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.
 Adulteration of chalk powder, washing soda
 in sugar.To small amount of sugar in a test-tube, add
few drops of HCl. Brisk effervescence of CO2 shows the
presence of chalk powder or washing soda in the given
sample of sugar.

Experiment 3

AIM :

To detect the presence of adulterants in samples of chilli

powder, turmeric powder and pepper.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:

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

PROCEDURE:

 Common adulterants present in chilly powder,

turmeric powder and pepper are red coloured lead
salts, yellow lead salts and dried papaya seeds
respectively. They are detected as follows :
 Adulteration of red lead salts in chilly powder To a
sample of chilly powder, add dil. HNO3. Filter the dil
solution and add 2 drops of potassium iodide solution
to the filtrate. Yellow ppt. indicates the presence of lead
salts in chilly powder.
 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.

 Adulteration of brick powder in red chilly powder Add

small amount of given red chilly powder in beaker
containing water. Brick powder settles at the bottom
while pure chilly powder floats over water.

 Adulteration of dried papaya seeds in pepper Add

small amount of sample of pepper to a beaker
containing water and stir with a glass rod. Dried
papaya seeds being lighter float over water while pure
pepper settles at the bottom.
 OBSERVATION

Steps Experiments Procedure Observation

Heat small amount of
vegetable ghee with
acetic anhydride. Droplets
Adulteration of paraffin wax
of oil floating on the Appearance of oil floating
1 and hydrocarbon in vegetable
surface of unused acetic on the surface.
ghee.
anhydride indicate the
presence of wax or
hydrocarbon
Heat 1mL of fat with a
mixture of 1mL of conc.
2 Adulteration of dyes in fat Appearance of pink colour.
H2SO4 and 4mL of acetic
acid.
To small amount of oil in a
Adulteration of argemone oil
3 test tube, add few drops No red colour observed
in edible oils
of conc. HNO3 & shake.

Take small amount of Pure sugar dissolves in

Adulteration of various
4 sugar in a test tube and water but insoluble
insoluble substances in sugar
shake it with little water. impurities do not dissolve.
To small amount of sugar
Adulteration of chalk powder, No brisk effervescent
5 in a test tube, add a few
washing soda in sugar observed.
drops of dil HCl

Adulteration of yellow lead To sample of turmeric Appearance of magenta

6
salts to turmeric powder powder, add conc. HCl. colour

To a sample of chilliy
powder, add dil. HNO3.
Adulteration of red lead salts
7 Filter the solution and add No yellow precipitate.
in chilly powder.
two drops of KI solution to
the filtrate.
Add small amount of Brick powder settles at the
Adulteration of brick powder
8 given red chilly powder in bottom while pure chilly
in chilly powder
a beaker containin water powder floats over water.
Add small amount of Dried Papaya seeds
sample of pepper to being lighter float over
Adulteration of dried
9 beaker containing water while pure
papaya seeds in pepper
water and stir with a pepper settles at the
glass rod. bottom
Precautions :

By taking a few precautions, we can escape from consuming

adulterated products.

1. Take only packed items of well-known

companies.

2. Buy items from reliable retail shops and

recognized outlets.

3. Check the ISI mark or Agmark.

4. Buy products of only air tight popular brands.

5. Avoid craziness for artificially coloured sweets and buy

only from reputed shops.
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 ppm
level. However, visual examination of the food before purchase
makes sure to ensure absence of insects, visual fungus, foreign
matters, etc. Therefore, due care taken by the consumer at the time
of purchase of food after thoroughly examining can be of great
help. Secondly, label declaration on packed food is very important
for knowing the ingredients and nutritional value. It also helps
in checking the freshness of the food andthe 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 food may cause various diseases. Consumption of
cut fruits being sold in unhygienic conditions should be avoided.
Biblography

1. Website
 www.wikipedia.org

 www.google.com

 www.yahoo.com

2. BOOKS:

 Comprehensive Practical Manual

 NCERT Class XII