Food Adulterants in Milk & Spices

INTRODUCTION

Ø Food is the basic necessity of life and an idle food item should not only be available in sufficient quantity, but it should also be nutritious, safe, and wholesome. Pure food is essential for the maintenance of health and this is the reason one works very hard to earn bread and butter in order to satisfy his hunger.

Ø However, in spite of this hard work, many of us do not make sure that we are eating the pure food which gives us energy and makes us healthy.

Ø We are eating the foodstuffs contaminated with dangerous dye, sawdust, industrial starch, aluminium foil, carcinogenic substances, and so on. Due to this unwanted reason we often invite various diseases rather than good health.

Ø Poor quality of food consumption by the people of any nation leads to malnutrition which in turn producing poor work efficiency. Thus, we can conclude that providing good quality food to the citizens of any nation has direct importance in respect of public health and the national economy.

Ø Now before going through the topic deeper let us discuss the term adulteration. The Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act, 1954 and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955 are the main statutes in our country which protect the consumer and aim to provide him safe food.

Ø As per the PFA Act, the term adulteration can be defined as “ Food adulteration takes into account not only the intentional addition or substitution or abstraction of substances which adversely affects the nature, substance, and quality of foods but also their incidental contamination during the period of growth, harvesting storage, processing, transportation, and distribution”.

Ø Putting it simply, any material which is being employed to make the food unsafe, hazardous, or below the standard mark as set by the regulatory bodies is termed adulterated food. In a nutshell, food is declared adulterated if it satisfies any of the following points

1.    If the product offered or during processing contains any substance  which harmfully diminishes its quality.

2.   Any cheaper or inferior substances are substituted wholly or in      part in the product.

3.   Any natural constituent present in the product has been abstracted  to affect its quality.

4. If the product contains any prohibited coloring substances or preservatives or use of coloring matter exceeding the prescribed limit to make its appearance good.

5.  Whatever the reason may be if the product has the quality below the standard.

 

ADULTERANT

❑  The substances that lower the quality of food, when added to it are called adulterants.

❑   It is a substance found within other food substances that hamper the natural quality of the food & may be present in any form and in any quantity.

❑  Adulterants are mostly harmful and pose the ability to lower the potency of the product. Even if the adulterant is not harmful, it reduces the nutritional value of the food to a greater extent.

WHAT IS FOOD ADULTERATION ?

❑  Food adulteration refers to the process by which the quality or nature of a given food is altered through either the addition of adulterants and/or through removal of a vital substance from the food.

❑  Food adulterants refer to the foreign, usually inferior substances added to the food which may cause harm to the consumer or introduce unknown hazards in the food.

TYPES OF FOOD ADULTERATION

❑  Intentional Adulteration- When substances which look similar to the constituents of the food are added to it, to increase its weight and gain more profit. Example- mixing of pebbles, stones, marbles, sand, mud, filth, chalk powder, contaminated water, etc.

❑  Incidental Adulteration- Incidental adulteration occurs due to negligence while handling food. Like residues of pesticides in grains, larvae growth, presence of droppings of rodents, etc.

❑  Metallic Adulteration- The addition of metallic materials into food like lead or mercury is metallic adulteration. It may happen accidentally or even intentionally.

METHODS  OF FOOD ADULTERATION

❑  Mixing

❑  Substituting

❑  Using Decomposed Food

❑  Additions of Toxic Substances

❑  Misbranding

❑  Artificial Ripening

HOW TO DETECT FOOD ADULTERATION

A)IN MILK

ADULTERANT

1.Urea

TEST- Mix 1 ml of milk with 1 ml of 1.6% DMAB reagent.

INFERENCE-Distinct yellow colour is observed in milk containing added urea.

The control (normal milk) shows a slight yellow colour due to presence of natural urea.

RESULTS

2. Detergent

TEST- Take 5 to 10 ml of the sample and water in  1:1 ratio & the resultant solution is shaken vigorously

INFERENCE-Adulterated milk will form dense lather on the surface

Pure milk will form a very thin foam layer

RESULTS

3. Starch

TEST- Take 2 ml of milk products which were boiled with 5 ml of water.

After cooling the solution add few drops of iodine tincture are added.

INFERENCE-The solution color turns dark blue that indicates the presence of starch.

RESULTS

4. Water

TEST- Place a drop of milk on a polished, clean, and slanting surface

INFERENCE- Pure milk either stays or slowly moving to leave a white trail behind, & in the case of adulterated milk, it immediately flows without leaving a mark.

RESULTS

5. Cane sugar

TEST- Take 1 ml of milk in a test tube & add 1 ml of Resorcinol Solution and mix & place the tube in boiling water bath for 5 min & withdraw the tube and observe the colour.

INFERENCE- Appearance of deep red colour indicates presence of sucrose, or a ketose sugar.

RESULTS

6. Synthetic milk

TEST- Rub a drop of milk between the fingers & also boil a small amount of milk to observe the changes.

INFERENCE- Gives soapy feeling on rubbing and turns yellow on boiling if it is synthetic milk.

B)SALT,SPICES &CONDIMENTS

ADULTERANT

1. Papaya seeds in black pepper

TEST- Add some amount of black pepper to a glass of water.

INFERENCE- Pure black pepper settles at the bottom while adulterated one can be seen floating on the surface of the water

RESULTS

2. Light blackberries in black pepper:

TEST- Press the black peppers with the help of your fingers

INFERENCE- Light blackberries will break easily while black pepper will not break

RESULTS

3. Sawdust and powdered bran in any kind of powdered spices:

TEST- Sprinkle powdered spices on the water surface.

INFERENCE- Pure spices will not leave any adulterant (sawdust/powdered bran) on the surface of the water while in case of adulterated one adulterant can be seen floating on the surface.

RESULTS

4. Soapstone powder in hing

TEST- Around one gram of asafoetida or hing is taken in a transparent glass container ,add little water to it followed by proper shaking & keep it few minutes  for further settlement

INFERENCE- If asafoetida is adulterated, soapstone or any kind of other earthy matter will settle down at the bottom

RESULTS

5. Starch in asafetida or hing

TEST- Add few drops of tincture of iodine in an asafetida solution

INFERENCE- Add few drops of tincture of iodine in an asafetida solution

RESULTS

6. Synthetic water-soluble colors in chilli powder

TEST- Take little water in a clean transparent glass & sprinkle a little chilli powder on it.

INFERENCE- Pure chilli powder will not leave any color while adulterated one starts leaving color immediately

RESULTS

7. Sawdust in chilli powder

TEST- Add little chili powder in a glass container with water

INFERENCE- Pure chili powder will settle down at the bottom while saw dust will float on the water surface.

RESULTS

8. Lead chromate in turmeric whole

TEST- Take little water in a clean transparent glass & add a small quantity of turmeric whole to it.

INFERENCE- Pure turmeric will not leave any color & if the turmeric is adulterated it will leave a bright yellow color quickly while for the pure one no such thing was observed

RESULTS

9. Any artificial water-soluble color in turmeric powder

TEST- Add a little turmeric powder in a glass container with water

INFERENCE- Pure turmeric powder will produce light yellow color while settling down

Adulterated turmeric powder will give strong bright yellow color while settling down.

RESULTS

10. Chalk or any other white powder in common salt

TEST- Add a teaspoon of a sample of salt in a glass of water and stir it thoroughly

INFERENCE- Pure salt dissolves completely and gives a clear solution or gives slightly turbid solution due to the presence of the permitted ant caking agent in the salt.

In case of adulteration, the solution turns white and turbid with settling of insoluble impurities at the bottom

RESULTS

11. Grass seeds in cumin seeds

TEST- Take a small number of cumin seeds on palm, rub it thoroughly

INFERENCE- If palms turn black, adulteration is indicated.

RESULTS

Conclusion:

In this blog, we found that consuming pure food for every citizen of a nation is of paramount importance not only from the social health perspective also from the welfare of a whole community.

The local citizens are buying hundreds of products every day but at the end of the day, they do not even know that the products which he is buying for him and his family are good for health or not.

In this blog, one effort has been given to identifying the adulterated products by performing some simple tests in-home so that people can be made aware enough regarding food adulteration but it cannot be denied that all kind of food adulteration is not possible to catch by performing these simple tests because some adulterants are not detected by these experiments, the complex tests need a sophisticated laboratory.

The good news is that in our country many food testing labs which include government and private is running their facilities to test food adulteration. The main aim of this blog is to make people aware of food adulteration and its harmful effects so that when people try to do the testing at home they can benefit from them.

And lastly it is said that pure food consumption is a fundamental right for every citizen and by consuming pure food citizens will be healthy and able to build a prospective nation which all we dream of every day.

BLOG BY:- DEVANSHI PATEL 

DEPARTMENT:- AIB

UNIVERSITY:- AMITY UNIVERSITY RAJASTHAN