Food adulteration involves adding unwanted substances to food to make profits while making the food injurious to health. It lowers the nutritive value of food by removing vital components or adding inferior substances. Common food adulterants include water, starch powder, artificial colors and flavors which are added to milk, ghee, spices, oils, sweets and more. This adulteration can be intentional to increase profits, incidental due to negligence, or metallic through addition of heavy metals. Adulterated food fails to meet legal standards and can cause health issues like cancer, stomach disorders, toxicity and more.

1. Food
Adulteration
Dr. M. Vairalakshmi,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry,
V. V. Vanniaperumal College for Women,
Virudhunagar-626001.
Food Adulteration and its Types

2. Food
Adulteration
Food Adulteration
 Food adulteration is the process of adding or subtracting unwanted substances to food,
with similar appearance for making profits and making it injurious to health. This
adulteration may be done intentionally or unintentionally.
 The process of lowering the nutritive value of food either by removing a vital
component or by adding substances of inferior quality is called “food adulteration”.
 The food fails to meet the legal standards set by the government, it is said to have been
adulterated.
 The substances that lower the quality of food, when added to it are called “adulterants”.

3. Food
Adulteration Adulterants in Food
Food Products Adulterant Harmful Effects
Milk and Curd Water and starch powder Stomach disorders
Ghee, Cheese
and Butter
Mashed potatoes, Vanaspati and
starch powder
Gastro-intestinal disturbances
and other stomach disorders
Grains
Dust, Pebbles, Stones, Straw, weed
seeds, damaged grain, etc
Liver disorders, Toxicity in the
body, etc
Pulses Dyes, chemical like Lead Chromate Stomach disorders
Coffee powder Chicory, tamarind seeds powder Diarrhoea.

4. Food
Adulteration Adulterants in Food
Food Products Adulterant Harmful Effects
Tea Artificial colouring agents. Liver disorders.
Sugar
Chalk powder, Washing soda,
Urea, etc.
Stomach disorders and kidney
failure.
Pepper
Dried papaya seeds and
blackberries.
Severe allergic reactions
including stomach and skin
irritations.
Mustard seeds Argemone seeds.
Abdominal contractions,
sluggishness and increased
excretion.
Edible Oils
Mineral oil, Karanja oil, castor oil
and artificial colours.
Gallbladder cancer, allergies,
paralysis, cardiac arrest, and
increased LDL cholesterol.

5. Food
Adulteration Adulterants in Food
Food Products Adulterant Harmful Effects
Turmeric
Powder
Pesticide residues, sawdust, chalk dust,
industrial dyes, metanil yellow dye,
arsenic, lead, etc.
Cancer and Stomach disorders.
Chilli and
Coriander
powder
Redbrick powder, Rhodamine B dye,
dung powder, soluble salts, water-soluble
synthetic colours and other common salts.
Metal toxicity, Cancer, lead
poisoning, tumour, variations in
blood pressure and other stomach
related disorders.
Cinnamon
sticks
Cassia bark.
Liver Damage, Low Blood Sugar
and increased risk of cancer.
Cumin seeds
Coloured grass seeds, sawdust and
charcoal dust
Stomach disorders.
Jam, Juice and
Candies
Non-permitted dyes including metanil
yellow and other artificial food dyes.
cancer

6. Food
Adulteration Adulterants in Food
Food Products Adulterant Harmful Effects
Jaggery Washing soda, chalk powder
Vomiting and other Stomach
disorders
Honey Molasses, dextrose, sugar and corn syrups Stomach disorders
Fruits and
Vegetables
Chemical dyes, Malachite green, calcium
carbide, copper sulphate and oxytocin
saccharin wax.
Stomach disorders, vomiting,
and dyes used are highly
carcinogenic.
Tomato sauces
Pumpkin pulp, non-edible artificial colours
and flavours.
Gastritis and inflammation of
vital organs.
Ice Cream
Pepper oil, ethyl acetate, butyraldehyde,
nitrate, washing powder. The kind of gum is
added which is prepared by boiling different
animal parts including the tail, udder, nose,
etc.
Dreadful diseases that affect
organs including lungs,
kidneys, and heart.

7. Food
Adulteration
Types of Food Adulteration
There are three types of food adulteration.
i) Intentional Adulteration
ii) Incidental Adulteration
iii) Metallic Adulteration

8. Food
Adulteration
i. Intentional Adulteration
Food adulteration is usually done intentionally by adding substances that look
similar to the constituents of the food, to increase its weight and gain more
profit.
Example - mixing of pebbles, stones, marbles, sand, mud, filth, chalk powder,
contaminated water, etc.

9. Food
Adulteration
ii. Incidental Adulteration
Incidental adulteration takes place when foreign materials are added to food due to
ignorance, negligence, or lack of proper facilities.
Example- Insects in the food due to poor packaging.

10. Food
Adulteration
iii. Metallic Adulteration
The addition of metallic materials into food like lead or mercury is metallic
adulteration. It may happen accidentally or even intentionally.
Example: Arsenic from pesticides, lead from water, mercury from industrial effluent, tin
from cans

11. Food
Adulteration
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