Food Adulteration
Aveer Singh
• Adulteration or contamination of natural food products is one
ofthe major challenges in today’s society. Despite various
actions andpenalties, the practice of adding adulterant is quite
common indeveloping countries. There are various methods
used foradulterating natural products.
• Food Adulteration can be defined as the practice of
adulteratingfood or contamination of food materials by adding a
fewsubstances, which are collectively called adulterants.
• The process of contaminating food or adding to the
foodcomponents is a common phenomenon in developing
countries.
• For instance: Milk can be diluted by adding water to increase
itsquantity and starch powder is often added to increase its solid
content.
• The causes:
Practised as a part of the business strategy
Increased food demand for a rapidly growing population.
T o make maximum profit from food items by fewer investments in
superior quality products.
Effects:
• Adulteration is an illegal practice of adding raw and other
cheaper ingredients to excellent quality products to increase the
quantity. Having this adulterated food is highly toxic and leads
to several health issues, including certain nutrition deficiency
diseases, kidney disorders, and failure of an individual’s organ
systems, including heart, kidney and liver
• It also promotes unfair business practises, decreasing standard of
living and unnecessary waste of time and money later on recovering
from the harmful health impacts
Tests:
4) Starches in milk: Add a drop of iodine solution to a small
quantity of milk. Milk containingstarch turns blue. Pure milk
turns a coffee shade.
5) Vanaspati in pure ghee:
Take about one teaspoonful of melted butter with an equal
quantity of concentrated hydrochloric acid in a test tube.
Add 2 or 3 drops of furfural solution. Shake it well for
one minute and let it stand for five minutes. Appearance of
pink colour in the lower layer of acid means that vanaspati
is present in pure ghee/butter as an adulterant
Some Excerpts from the The Prevention of
Food adulteration Act ,1954
Defintion of adulteration:
• Defintion continued:
Recommendations on metals in water:
Packaged water:
Max allowed contents of poisonous metals: