Adulteration is a practice of substituting the original crude drug partially or whole with other similar-looking substances.

1. O.P. Verma
Associate Professor
Dept. of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
Goel Institute of Pharmacy and Sciences Lucknow

2. DEFINATION
Adulteration is a practice of substituting
original crude drug partially or whole with
other similar looking substances but the latter
is either free from or inferior in chemical and
therapeutic properties.
OR

3. Adulteration in s
imple words isthe debasement of an
article.
OR
Adulteration is broadly defined as admixture
or substitution of original or genuine article/
drug with inferior, defective or otherwise
us
elessor harmful s
ubs
tances
.

4. ADULTRANT :
□ The adulterant must be some material
which in both cheap and available in fairly
large amounts.
□ Substitution is the addition of an entirely
different article in place of that which is
required e.g. Supply of cheap cottonseed oil
in place of olive oil (Sweet oil).

5. TYPES OF ADULTERATION
1.Deliberate ( Intentional ) adulteration
2.Un-deliberate (Un-intentional) or Accidental
adulteration

6. 1
. DELIBERATE ADULTERATION
( INTENTIONAL )
Deliberate adulteration – Are normally
commercial mainly with the intention of
enhancement of profits.

7. 2. Un-DELIBERATE ( ACCIDENTAL )
ADULTERATION
Un-deliberate adulteration –
Are normally naturally occurring,
accidental, careless or by ignorance and non
harmful.

8. REASONS FOR ADULTERATION
1
.Scarcity of the drug.
2.The high price of the drug in the market,
eg: Clove, Cinnamon, Cardamom
3. It isvery common with the contraband
drugse.g. Opium

9. CONDITIONS OR STAGES OF
ADULTERATION
The term 'adulteration' or debasement of an
article covers a number of conditions, which
may be deliberate or In-deliberate.
■Inferiority,
■Spoilage,
■Deterioration,
■Admixture,
■Sophistication ,
■Substitution

10. □ Is a natural s
ubs
tandard condition (e.g.
where a crop is taken whose natural
constituent is below the minimum standard
for that particular drug)
Inferiority

11. ■ Is a substandard condition produced by
microbial or other pest infestation, which
makes a product unfit for consumption.
Spoilage

12. □ Isthe los
sin the quality or value of an article
due to destruction valuable constituents by
bad treatment or aging or to the deliberate
extraction of the constituents.
Deterioration

13. □ Is the addition of one article to another
through accident, ignorance or carelessness
e.g. Inclusion of soil on an underground
organ or the co-collection of two similar
species.
Admixture

14. ■ Isthe deliberate addition of inferior material with
intent to defraud ( cheat to get money ) ; such
materials are carefully produced and may appear
at first sight to be genuine.
■ E.g. Powder ginger may be diluted with starch
with addition of little coloring material to give the
correct shade of yellow colour.
Sophistication

15. □ Isthe addition of an entirely different article
in place of that which isrequired.
□ E.g. Supply of cheap cottonseed oil in place
of olive oil (Sweet oil).
Substitution

16. METHODS OF DRUG ADULTERATION
1.Substitution with Inferior/Sub- standard
Commercial Varieties
2. Adulteration by Artificially Manufactured Substitutes
3
. S
ubstitution by Exhaus
ted Drugs
4. Adulteration by Addition of Worthless Heavy Materials
( Harmful Adulteration)
5. Addition of Synthetic Principles
6. Us
age of Vegetative Matter from the S
ame Plant
7.Adulteration of Powders

17. 1. Substitution with Inferior/Sub- standard
Commercial Varieties
Due to morphological resemblance to the
authentic drugs, different inferior commercial
varietiesare us
ed asadulterant which may or
may not have any chemical or therapeutic
potential asthat original natural drug

18. This isthe most common type of adulteration
Eg. Arabian Senna and Dog Senna have
been used to adulterate Indian Senna (Cassia
senna)
Eg. Medicinal Ginger ( Zingiber officinale) is
replaced by Japanese ginger (Zingiber mioga )

20. Here the substances artificially prepared to
resemble the original drug ( provide the
general form and appearance i.e colour,
shape, size) and are used as substitute of the
original one.
2. Adulteration by Artificially Manufactured
Substitutes

21. Generally , this practice isfollowed for much
costlier drugs
Eg. Artificial invert s
ugar for Honey
Eg. Paraffin wax made yellow coloration and
subs
tituted for Beeswax.
Eg. Compress
ed chicory in place of Coffee

23. but it is devoid of any medicinally active
constituents as they are already extracted
out. (no active medicinal components as
they have already been extracted out).
3. Substitution by Exhausted Drugs
In thistype the s
ame plant drug isadmixed

24. This practice is most common in case of
volatile oil containing materials like clove,
fennel , cardamom, cinnamon etc.,
Eg. Exhaus
ted Clove to Clove
Eg. Exhaus
ted Ginger to Ginger
24

26. 5. Adulteration by Addition of Worthless Heavy
Materials ( Harmful Adulteration)
Here, the wastes from market are collected
and admixed with original drug.
This is particularly noticed for liquids and
unorganized drugs.

28. S
ometimes to fortify inferior natural
products, synthetic principles are added
Eg. Adding Citral to Oil of Lemon
Eg. Benzyl benzoate to Bals
am of Peru etc.
6. Addition of Synthetic Principles

29. S
ome times
, the other plants growing along with
medicinal plant are mixed due to their resembling
colour, odour and in some cas
escons
tituents.
7. Usage of Vegetative Matter from the Same Plant

30. 8. ADULTERATION OF POWDERS
Besidesthe entire drugs, the powdered forms
are frequently , found to be adulterated.
Eg. Red S
anderswood in Caps
icum
Eg. Exhaus
ted Ginger powder in powdered
Ginger
Eg. The powdered bark isfrequently
adulterated with Brick powder

32. QUESTION BANK
Long Essays: 1
0 Marks
1.Explain in detail the various methods of adulteration of
crude drugswith examples
.
2. Explain the five different methods used for adulteration of
crude drugsand discus
s
.
4. Define adulteration. Explain the various methods of
adulteration with examples.
5.What do you mean by deliberate and indeliberate

33. Short Essays: 5 Marks
1. Define adulteration and explain the various methods of
adulteration.
2. Define adulteration and give the reasonsfor adulteration
with examples.
3.What do you mean by deliberate and indeliberate
adulteration with examples?
4. Dis
cus
swith exampleson adulteration of powder and
liquid drugs.
5. Explain in detail the methods of adulteration of crude
drugswith examples
.
6. Name five different methodsused for adulteration of crude
drugsand explain with examples
.
7. What isadulteration? Explain in-deliberate adulteration of
crude drugswith examples

34. 8. Name five different methods used for adulteration of crude
drugsand explain with examples
.
9. What isadulteration? Explain in-deliberate adulteration of
crude drugswith examples
10. What isadulteration? Explain the deliberate adulteration
of crude drugswith examples
.
Short Answers: 2 Marks
1.Define Adulteration and Substitution.
2. What do you mean by deliberate and indeliberate
adulteration?
3. Give the variousreasonsof adulteration
4.Artificial adulteration with examples.
5.Name the different methods of adulteration of crude drugs.

35. 6. Define adulteration and sophistication.
7.What are exhaus
ted drugs
?Give examples
.
8.What isharmful adulteration?Give examples.
9. Give the difference between substitute and official drug
with example.
10.What issubstitution?Give examples
.
11.What isdeterioration?Give example.
12.Adulteration of crude drugs with artificial adulterants