Food Adulteration

1. FOOD ADULTERATION
TANYA SHARMA
M.SC. FOOD TECHNOLOGY
FOOD ADULTERATION

2. INTRODUCTION
 Adulteration of food commonly defined as “the addition of subtraction of
any substance to or from food, so that the natural composition and quality
of food substance is affected.”
 Food adulteration includes mixing, substitution, concealing the quality,
putting up decomposed food for sale, misbranding or giving false labels
and addition of toxicants.

3. Food is declared adulterated if:
 A substance is added which depreciates or injuriously affects it.
 Cheaper or inferior substances are substituted wholly or in part.
 Any valuable or necessary constituent has been wholly or in part
abstracted.
 It is an imitation.
 It is colored or otherwise treated, to improve its appearance or if it
contains any added substance injurious to health.
 For whatever reasons its quality is below the standard.

4. Types of adulteration
 Intentional Adulteration
 Incidental Adulteration
 Metallic Adulteration
• Done for financial gain.
• Addition of sand, marble, chips,
stones, mud, other filth, talc, chalk
powder, water, mineral oil and
harmful color.
• Happen due to carelessness and
lack in proper hygienic
conditions of processing,
storage, transportation and
marketing.
• Occurs due to Arsenic from
pesticides, lead from water,
effluent from chemical
industries, tin from cans.

5. Disadvantages for Consumer:
 He is paying more for the food stuff of lower quality.
 Some form of adulteration is injurious to health, even resulting in death.
 Addition of argemone oil to mustard oil causes epidemic dropsy
 Adulteration of edible oil with trycresyn phosphate(TCP) results in paralysis
and death.

6. SOME COMMON ADULTERANTS, IT’S
DETECTION AND DISEASES

7. Turmeric
Adulterants
Yellow aniline dyes, Non-permitted colourants like metanil yellow, lead chromate powder, Yellow
clay.
Detection
 Take a teaspoon full of turmeric powder in a test tube. Add a few drops of conc. hydrochloric
acid. Instant appearance of violet colour which disappears on dilution with water. If the colour
persists, presence of metanil yellow is indicated.
 Mix powders with water and allow to stand for sometime. The yellow clay will settle down at
the bottom leaving turmeric on the top.
Diseases
1. Yellow aniline dyes- Carcinogenic
2. Non-permitted colourants like metanil yellow – Highly Carcinogenic
3. Lead chromate- cause Anemia, paralysis, brain damage.

8. Red Chilli Powder
Adulterants
Brick powder, Soap stone, Artificial color, Sudan dye
Detection
 Any grittiness that may be felt on tapping the sediment at the bottom of
glass confirms the presence of brick powder or sand. Smooth white residue
at the bottom indicates the presence of soapstone
 Water soluble artificial dye can be detected by sprinkling a small quantity
of chilli powder on the surface of water contained in a glass tumbler. The
soluble dye will immediately start descending in color streaks.
Disease
1. Brick powder, saw dust- Stomach disorder
2. Sudan dye is carcinogenic.

9. Milk
Adulterants
Water, Starch, urea, detergent
Detection
 Add a drop of tincture iodine or iodine solution. If blue color forms,. It
means the milk is adulterated.
 Pour 1 teaspoon-full milk into a test tube and add half a teaspoon of
soybean powder to it. Mix the contents properly. Then, dip a red litmus
paper in it post 5 min. If the color of litmus paper changes to blue from red
after half a minute, it indicates that urea is present.
 Take some milk in a bottle and add water measuring an equal amount.
Shake it well. If there is a formation of lather, it confirms that detergent is
present.
Disease
1. If contaminated water is added, it may lead to cholera, typhoid,
meningitis etc
2. A high amount of starch causes diarrhoea.

10. Coffee
Adulterants
Chicory powder, Tamarind seed, date seed powder, starch
Detection
 Gently sprinkle the coffee powder sample on the surface of water n a glass.
The coffee floats over the water but chicory begins to sink down within a
few seconds. The falling chicory powder particles leave behind them a trail
of color due to large amount of caramel they contain.
 Make decoction of the coffee, decolorizes it by adding potassium
permaganate and then add a drop of iodine solution. Blue color indicates
presence of starch.
Disease
1. Tamarind seed and date seed powder causes diarrhoea
2. Chicory powder causes stomach disorder, giddiness and joint pain.

11. Mustard seeds
Adulterants
Argemone seeds and argemone oil , Mineral oil
Detection
 Examine under magnifying glass. Seeds more blacken, rough and non-uniform
irregular round show presence of argemone seeds. Mustard seeds have a
smooth surface. The argemone seed have grainy and rough surface and are
blacker hence can be separated out by close examination.
Disease
1. Argemone causes Epidemic dropsy and Glucoma
2. Mineral oil cause cancer.

12. Black Pepper
Adulterants
Dried seeds of papaya fruit, saw dust, mineral oil
Detection
 Papaya seeds are shrunken, oval in shape and greenish brown or brownish black in color
and has repulsive flavor quite distinct from the bite of black pepper.
 Add some of the adulterated sample to glass water, papaya seeds float while pepper
seeds do not.
Disease
Papaya seeds can cause serious liver problems and stomach disorders.

13. Green chillies, green peas and other
Vegetables
Adulterant
Malachite green ( To accentuate the bright, glowing green color of the
vegetable).
Detection
Those green chillies are heat up in dishes may not actually be that green. So if
you’d like to make sure, then take a piece of cotton soaked in liquid paraffin
and rub a small portion of the chilli, if the cotton picks up any color, then the
chillies are adulterated.
Disease
It is a coloured dye has proven to be carcinogenic for humans if consumed
over a long period of time.

14. Cloves
Adulterant
Volatile oil extracted cloves
Detection
 Take a glass of water and add the cloves. The unadulterated cloves will
settle at the bottom of the glass and the adulterated ones will be float on
the surface of water.
 The adulterated cloves float in the surface of the water because the oil has
been extracted by distillation.

15. Common Salt
Adulterant
Chalk powder
Detection
Stir a spoonful of simple salt in a glass of water. The presence of chalk will
make the solution white and other insoluble impurities settle down.
Disease
1. It often can disrupt our digestive system.
2. It cause damage to our internal organs.

16. Conclusion
Adulteration in food items can cause tremendous affect on
health without our knowledge. It can be prevented by few
alerting steps of our society. Hike of price of food items
should be checked by government. The consumer should
avoid buying food from places which do not maintain proper
hygiene conditions. Both local and branded food stores should
be inspected by government bodies. If we tend to actively
participate in these changes then we can bring about a healthy
and non venturous future for the upcoming generations.

17. Reference
 https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2203560.pdf/PMC9818512/
 https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/jfq/2022/2421050.pdf
 https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journal-for-research-analysis-
GJRA/recent_issues_pdf/2012/December/food-adulteration-and-
society_December_2012_1599037568_02.pdf
 https://ijcrt.org/papers/IJCRT2203560.pdf
 https://byjus.com/biology/food-adulteration/
 https://www.vedantu.com/biology/food-adulteration