Study of common food adulterants in fat, oil, butter, sugar, turmeric power, chilli powder and pepper.

2. Certificate
This is to certify that Arsh Gera of class XII-A
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 Ms. Archana
Sharma (Chemistry Teacher) as prescribed by
the Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE) during the academic session 2022-
2023.
_________ _________
________
(Signature)
Ms. Archana Sharma
(Chemistry Teacher)
(Signature)
Examiner

3. ACKNOWLEDEMENT
I would like to express my special gratitude to
my teacher Ms. Archana Sharma as well as our
Vice Principal Ms. Manvinder Kaur who gave
me the golden opportunity and 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.
I would also like to thank my Parents and my
Friends for helping me in doing this Project.

4. INDEX
S.NO. Content Pg.no.
1 Aim 1
2 Introduction 2
3 Theory 6
4 Experiment-1 10
5 Experiment-2 14
6 Experiment-3 17
7 Observation 22
8 Precautions 24
9 Conclusions 26
10 Bibliography 29

5. Page 1 of 29
Aim:
Study of common food
adulterants in fat, oil, butter,
sugar, turmeric power, chilli
powder and pepper.

6. 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
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7. 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
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8. the Concurrent List (III) in the
Constitution of India. It has,
therefore, 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
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9. 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
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10. articles of food and certain other
matters (clause 22)
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
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11. 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,
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12. asthma, ulcers, etc. Majority of
fats, oils and butter are paraffin
wax, castor oil and
hydrocarbons. Red chilli 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
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13. 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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14. 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
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15. 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
ii. Adulteration of dyes in fat-
Heat 1mL of fat with a mixture of
1mL of conc. sulphuric acid and
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16. 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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17. Page 13 of 29

18. 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:
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19. 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 washing soda in
the given sample of sugar.
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20. Page 16 of 29

21. 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
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22. 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 chilli powder.
ii. Adulteration of yellow lead
salts to turmeric powder
To a sample of turmeric powder
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23. 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
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24. 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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25. Page 21 of 29

26. Observation
Page 22 of 29
Experiment Procedure Observation
Adulteration of
paraffin wax
and hydrocarbon in
vegetable ghee
Heatsmallamountof
vegetablegheewith
aceticanhydride.
Dropletsof oil
floating on the
surfaceofunused
aceticanhydride
indicate
the presence of wax
or hydrocarbon
Appearance of oil floating on
the surface
Adulteration of
dyes in fat
Heat 1mL of fat with
a mixture of 1mL of
conc. H2SO4
and4mLofacetic
acid
Appearance of pink colour.

27. Adulteration of
argemone oil in edible
oils
Tosmallamountofoilina
testtube,addfewdropsof
conc. HNO3 &shake.
No red
colour Observed.
Adulteration of various
insoluble substances
in sugar
Takesmallamountofsugar
inatesttubeandshake it
with little water.
Pure sugar dissolves
in water but
insoluble impurities
do not dissolve.
Adulteration of yellow
lead salts to turmeric
powder
Tosampleofturmeric
powder,addconc.HCl.
Appearance of
magenta colour.
Adulteration of red
lead salts in
chilli powder
To a sample of
chilli powder, add dil.
HNO3. Filterthesolutionand
add 2 drops of KI solution
to the filtrate.
Noyellowppt.
Adulteration of brick
powderinchilli powder
Add small amount
of given red chilli powder
in a beaker containing
water.
Brick powder settles
at the bottom while
pure chilli powder
floats over water.
Adulteration of dried
papaya seeds inPepper
Add small amount of
sample of pepper to
beaker containing water
and stir with a glass rod.
Add small amount
of sample of pepper
to beaker containing
water and stir with
a glass rod.
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28. 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
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29. 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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30. 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
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31. 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 best before use. The
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32. consumer should avoid 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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33. 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 12
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