Holy Garden Model

School

Topic: Study of common food

adulterants in fat, oil, butter, sugar,
turmeric powder, chilli powder and
pepper

Name- Rahul Dutta

Class- XII

Subject- Chemistry Investigatory

Project
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 Certificate
This is to certify that Rahul Dutta of class
XII has successfully completed Chemistry
Investigatory Project on the topic “Study of
common food adulterants in fat, oil, butter,
sugar, turmeric power, chilli powder and
pepper. ” under the guidance of our
Chemistry Teacher as prescribed by the
Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE) during the academic session 2023-
2024.

_________ _________
(External’s Signature) (Teacher’s Signature)
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 ACKNOWLEDEMENT
I would like to express my special gratitude to
my Chemistry teacher who supported me to do
this wonderful project on the topic Study of
common food adulterants in fat, oil, butter,
sugar, turmeric power, chilli powder and
pepper. This project also helped me in doing a
lot of Research and I came to know about so
many new things I am really thankful to them.

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 INDEX
S.NO. Content Pg.no.
1 Aim 5
2 Introduction 6
3 Theory 8
4 Experiment-1 10
5 Experiment-2 12
6 Experiment-3 14
7 Observation 16
8 Precautions 17
9 Conclusions 18
10 Bibliography 20
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 Aim:
Study of common food
adulterants in fat, oil,
butter, sugar, turmeric
power, chilli powder and
pepper.
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 Introduction
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.
‘Adulteration of food stuffs and other goods’
is now included in the Concurrent List (III) in
the Constitution of India. It has, therefore,
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become possible for the Central
Government to enact all India legislation on
this subject. 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. Among others, it
provides for
• A Central Food Laboratory to which food
samples can be referred to for final
opinion in disputed cases (clause 4).
• 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
(clause 3).
• The vesting in the Central Government of
the rule-making power regarding standards
of quality for the articles of food and certain
other matters (clause 22).
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 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 behaviour 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
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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 objectives to
promote the Grading and Standardization of
agricultural and allied commode.

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 Experiment 1
AIM:
To detect the presence of adulterants in
fat, oil and butter.
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:
i. 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.
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ii. 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.
iii. Adulteration of argemone oil in
edible oils- Add 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.

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 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:
i. 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.
ii. 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
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washing soda in the given sample of
sugar.

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 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:
i. 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 ppt.
indicates the presence of lead salts in
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chilli powder.
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ii. 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.
iii. 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.
iv. 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.
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 Observation
Adulteration of To small amount of oil in a No red
argemone oil in edible test tube, add few drops of colour Observed.
oils conc. HNO3 & shake.
Adulteration of various Take small amount of sugar Pure sugar dissolves
insoluble substances in a test tube and shake it in water but
in sugar with little water. insoluble impurities
do not dissolve.
Adulteration of yellow To sample of turmeric Appearance of
lead salts to turmeric powder, add conc. HCl. magenta colour.
powder
Adulteration of red To a sample of No yellow ppt.
lead salts in chilli powder, add dil.
chilli powder HNO3. Filter the solution and
add 2 drops of KI solution
to the filtrate.
Adulteration of brick Add small amount Brick powder settles
powder in chilli powder of given red chilli powder at the bottom while
in a beaker containing pure chilli powder
water. floats over water.
Adulteration of dried Add small amount of Add small amount
papaya seeds in Pepper sample of pepper to of sample of pepper
beaker containing water to beaker containing
and stir with a glass rod. water and stir with
a glass rod.
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 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.
6. Do not buy sweets or snacks kept in
open.
7. Avoid buying things from street side
vendors.
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 Conclusion
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 and the period of
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best before use. The consumer should avoid

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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. It is always better to buy
certified food from reputed shop.
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 Bibliography
From the web :
www.wikipedia.com
www.scribd.com
www.google.com
Books:
Class 12 Chemistry NCERT Part-1
Class 12 Chemistry NCERT Part-2
Comprehensive Practical Chemistry Class
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