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2019-2020
SAINIK SCHOOL AMARAVATHINAGAR
CHEMISTRY PROJECT
ADULTERATION OF FOOD
SUBMITTED BY
NAME: CDT. S SAILESH KUMAR
ROLL NO: 5908
CLASS: XII C

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks to my Physics master
Mr. P Chandiran for his guidance and his support in completion
of this project.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Principal, the
Vice-Principal and the Administrative Officer for giving me this
wonderful opportunity.

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SAINIK SCHOOL AMARAVATHINAGAR
This is to certify that cadet CBSE
Roll no: has satisfactorily completed the Project
work in Chemistry laid down in the regulations of CBSE for the
AISSCE Practical examination for class XII to be held in Sainik School
Amaravathinagar on
(Soney P Abraham)
PGT for Chemistry
EXAMINERS:
1. Name: Signature:
(External)
2. Name: Soney P Abraham Signature:
(Internal)

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CONTENTS
➢ Introduction
➢ Theory
• Various food and its adulterants
• Effects of adulteration of food
• Economically Motivated Adulteration
• Precautions to avoid adulterated food
• Identification of adulteration of food
o Experiment 1
o Experiment 2
➢ Conclusion

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INTRODUCTION
“Food is either the safest and the most powerful medicine or the slowest
poison.”
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Since times immemorial this proverb
has been the principle of many health-conscious homo sapiens. However, this
proverb has lost its application in the modern world. This proverb has been
contaminated by adulterants. The factor on which we depend has
now begun to threaten our own existence. We all owe our existence to the
food -that is an undeniable fact. This malice has left the food we eat
unsafe.
Food adulteration is an act of intentionally compromising the quality of food
sold either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the
removal of some valuable ingredient. That is the deliberate
contamination of food material with low quality, cheap and non-edible or
toxic substances. The substance, which lowers or degrades the quality of food
material, is called an adulterant. Adulteration brings a lot of easy money
for the traders, but it may spoil many lives. Food adulteration can
lead to slow-poisoning and various kinds of diseases, which can even
result in death. Adulteration makes the food items used in our daily life
unsafe and unhygienic for use.

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THEORY
Various Food and its Adulterants
✓Milk:
Some of the adulterants that are used in milk are
water, chalk, urea, caustic soda and skimmed milk.
✓Tea/Coffee:
Tea and coffee are two most used beverages, and thus
highly adulterated. Tea leaves are usually adulterated with same
coloured leaves, some might not even be edible. Several cases of liver
infection have been reported due to consuming adulterated tea.
Coffee seeds, on the other hand are adulterated with tamarind seeds,
mustard seeds and even chicory. These adulterants are the main
cause of diarrhoea.
✓Food Grains:
Food grains are very commonly adulterated with ergot,
a fungus containing poisonous substances and is extremely injurious
to health.
✓Vegetables:
Beware of the shiny vegetables! Different coloured and
textured vegetables are often coloured with different dyes and
substances. These vegetables are mostly adulterated with malachite
green, a chemical dye which is known to have carcinogenic.
Common adulterants in fruits and vegetables are
oxytocin saccharin, wax, calcium carbide and copper sulphate.

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✓Honey:
There are so many varieties of honey available in the
market, but due to its steep price, honey is commonly adulterated
with molasses sugar to increase the bottle quantity.
According to a study carried out by the Centre for
Science and Environment, most honey brands being sold in the
country contain varying amounts of antibiotics and their
consumption over time could induce resistance to antibiotics, lead to
blood-related disorders and injury to the liver.
✓Butter and Cream:
Butter can be diluted with water or partially replaced
with cheaper plant oils such as palm oil, sunflower oil and soybean
oil. This increases the profits derived from a given volume of milk.
✓Ice Cream:
Most common adulterants in ice cream are pepper oil,
ethyl acetate, butyraldehyde, emil acetate, nitrate, washing powder
etc are not less than poison. Pepper oil is used as a pesticide and ethyl
acetate causes terrible diseases affecting lungs, kidneys and heart.
Also, a kind of gum is added which is sticky and slow
melting. This gum is obtained by boiling animal parts like tail, the
nose, the udder etc.

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Effects of Adulteration of food
Leads to chronic health problems:
There are many mineral oils
which when added to the food items can result in paralysis, cancer
etc. If pregnant women eat such food items, it might lead to abortion
or even damage the brain of the baby. Sometimes zinc substances
result in vomiting or in severe cases it can result in diarrhoea. Food
colours that are added to the items can be the reason of liver damage,
allergies and lots more. Thus, you can say that adulteration can bring
down your health and affect the quality of life.
Increases the impurity in the food:
As adulteration alters the
composition of the food item, it increases the impurities thus making
them imperfect for the consumption. If you consume such impure
stuff you are bound to have side effects which can either be short-
term or a long-term one.
Lack of nutritional value:
Ready-made food is made using
poor quality ingredients which not only brings down the nutritional
content but can have a change in taste as well if kept for a long time.
So, you compromise with the taste as well as your health.

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Table 1:EMA incidents originated inside and outside India (Blue & Red)
Economically Motivated Adulteration (EMA)
Economically motivated adulteration (EMA) of
food, also known as food fraud, is the intentional adulteration of food
for financial advantage. A common form of EMA, undeclared
substitution with alternative ingredients, is usually a health concern
because of allergen labelling requirements. As demonstrated by the
nearly 300,000 illnesses in China from melamine adulteration of
infant formula, EMA also has the potential to result in serious public
health consequences.
Furthermore, EMA incidents reveal gaps in
quality assurance testing methodologies that could be exploited for
intentional harm. In contrast to foodborne disease outbreaks, EMA
incidents present a challenge to the food industry and regulators
because they are deliberateacts that are intended to evade detection.

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Precautions to Avoid Adulterated food
By taking a few precautions, we can escape from consuming
adulterated products:
➢ Take only packed items of well-known companies.
➢ Buy items from reliable retail shops and recognized outlets.
➢ Check the ISI mark or Ag mark.
➢ Buy products of only airtight popular brands.
➢ Avoid craziness for artificially coloured sweets and buy only from
reputed shops.
➢ Do not buy sweets or snacks kept in open.
➢ Avoid buying things from street side vendors.

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Identification of Adulteration of food
It is very important to identify adulterated
foods so that we can avoid the ill effects caused by these products. Let
us investigate some easy experiments to identify adulterated food.
EXPERIMENT 1:
AIM:
To test the presence of adulterant in Fats, Butter & Oils.
APPARATUS:
Test-tubes, beakers, test-tube stand, filter paper, dropper etc.
CHEMICALS REQUIRED:
For desi ghee & butter – conc. HCl, sugar, small amounts of
Vanaspati ghee or butter.
For vegetable ghee – conc. Acetic anhydride, small amounts of
vegetable ghee.
For oil – conc. Nitric acid, small amounts of edible oil.
PROCEDURE:
In case of ordinary test for fats, butter & oils, put a small amount of
these separately on a filter paper. Fold it & press, then unfold it. The

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presence of translucent spot indicates the presence of oil or fat. Hold
the filter paper over flame, the spot grows larger.
Test for oils:
Take 1 ml of mustard oil in a test tube & add few drops of conc. HCl
solution to it. Shake the mixture well. Appearance of red colour in the
acid layer indicates the presence of argemone oil in mustard oil.
CONCLUSION:
Appearance of certain colours in the mixture detects the presence of
adulterants.
EXPERIMENT 2:
AIM:
To test the presence of adulterants in Sugar, Chilli powder, Turmeric
powder & Pepper.
APPARATUS:
Test-tubes, beakers, test-tube stand, dropper, glass rod etc.
CHEMICALS REQUIRED:
For sugar – dil. H2SO4, water, sample of sugar.
For chilli powder – dil. HNO3, KI solution, sample of chilli powder.

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For turmeric powder – conc. HCl, sample of turmeric powder.
For pepper – water, sample of pepper.
PROCEDURE:
1)Tests for Sugar:
(a) Take a small amount of sugar in a beaker & add some amount of
water to it. Stir the solution with a glass rod. Pure sugar dissolves in
the water whereas the insoluble particles (chilli powder, washing
powder etc.) floats on the surface indicates the presence of
adulterants.
(b) Take 1 g of sugar in a test-tube & add few drops of dil. HCl to it. A
brisk effervescence due to the formation of CO2 indicates chalk
powder or washing soda in the given sample of sugar.
2) Tests for Chilli powder:
(a) Take a small amount of chilli powder in a test-tube & add few
drops of dil. HNO3 to the test-tube. Shake the mixture well & filter the
solution. To the filtrate, add 2-3 drops, of 10% KI solution. The
presence of yellow coloured precipitate indicates the presence of lead
salts in chilli powder.
(b) Take a small amount of given red chilli powder in a beaker & add
water to it. The pure chilli powder floats over the surface of water
whereas brick powder settles at the bottom.
3) Tests for Turmeric powder:

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Take a small amount of turmeric powder in a test-tube & to this add
few drops of conc. HCl. The colour changes from yellow to violet or
magenta indicates the presence of lead salts in turmeric powder.
4) Tests for Pepper:
Take a small amount of pepper in a beaker & add water to it. Stir the
mixture with a glass rod. Dried papaya seeds float over water &
pepper settles at the bottom.
CONCLUSION:
The experiments detect the presence of adulterants.

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CONCLUSION
The increasing number of food producers and the
outstanding amounts of imported food stuffs enables the producers to
mislead and cheat consumers. To differentiate of those who take
advantage of legal rules from the once who commit food adulteration
is very difficult. The consciousness of consumers has become very
crucial.
In addition, ignorance and unfair market
behaviours is endangering consumer health. So, we need sanctions
and judicial penalties with adequate restraining force to halt this
process.

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