Any article of food is adulterated if : If any inferior or cheaper substance has been substituted wholly or in part, If any constituent

of the article ahs been wholly or in part abstracted If the article has been prepared, packed or kept under insanitary conditions If the article consists in part filthy, rotten, decomposed or diseased animal or vegetable or is infested with insectsIf the article is obtained from diseased animal If the article contains any poisonous ingredient If the article has unprescribed coloring substance or the coloring substance is in excess of the prescribed limits. If the article contains any prohibited or excessive preservatives. If the quality nor purity of the article falls below prescribed standard

If the article is obtained from diseased animal If the article contains any poisonous ingredient If the article has unprescribed coloring substance or the coloring substance is in excess of the prescribed limits. If the article contains any prohibited or excessive preservatives. If the quality nor purity of the article falls below prescribed standard

Mogdad coffee, whose seeds have been used as an adulterant for coffee Roasted chicory roots, whose seeds have been used similarly, starting during the Napoleonic era in France (and continuing until today as a moderately popular additive for cheaper coffee) Roasted ground peas, beans, or wheat, which have been used to adulterate roasted chicory Diethylene glycol, used by some winemakers to fake sweet wines Oleomargarine or lard, added to butter Rapeseed oil, commonly added to sunflower oil and soybean oil, brassicasterol being a marker of its presence Rye flour, corn meal or potato starch, used to dilute more expensive flours; alum is also added to disguise usage of lower-quality flour Apple jellies, as substitutes for more expensive fruit jellies, with added colorant and sometimes even specks of wood that simulate strawberry seeds Artificial colorants, often toxic - e.g., copper, zinc, or indigo-based green dyes added to absinthe

Sudan I yellow color, added to chili powder, as well as Sudan Red for red color Water, for diluting milk and beer and hard drinks Low quality black tea, marketed as higher quality tea Starch, added to sausages Cutting agents, often used to adulterate (or "cut") illicit drugs - for example, shoe polish in solid cannabis Urea, melamine and other non-protein nitrogen sources, added to protein products in order to inflate crude protein content measurements Powdered beechnut husk aromatized with cinnamic aldehyde, marketed as powdered cinnamon. High fructose corn syrup or cane sugar, used to adulterate honey; C4 sugars serve as markers, as detected by carbon isotopic signatures Glutinous rice coloring made of hazardous industrial dyes, as well as tinopal to make rice noodles whiter (to serve as bleach) Noodles, meat, fish, tofu preserved with formaldehyde in tropical Asia, to prevent spoilage from the sun

NOTABLE INCIDENTS OF ADULTERATION

In 1987, Beech-Nut paid $2.2 million in fines for violating

the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by selling artificially flavored sugar water as apple juice. In 1997, ConAgra Foods pled guilty to federal criminal charges that one of its units illegally sprayed water on stored grain to increase its weight and value. In 2007, samples of wheat gluten mixed with melamine, presumably to produce artificially inflated results from common tests for protein content, were discovered in many U.S. pet food brands, as well as in human food supply. The adulterated gluten was found to have come from China, and U.S. authorities concluded that its origin was the Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company, a Xuzhou, China-based company. In 2008, significant portions of China's milk supply were found to have been contaminated with melamine. Infant formula produced from melamine-tainted milk killed at least six children and were believed to have harmed thousands of others.

Food Article

Adulterant
Water

Simple Method for Detecting the Adulterant

Milk

Urea

Mustard Seeds Ice Cream Sugar Silver Foil

Argemone Seeds Washing Powder Chalk Aluminium Foil

Put a drop of milk on polished vertical surface. The drop of pure milk either stops or flows slowly leaving a white trail behind it. Whereas milk adulterated with water will flow immediately without leaving a mark. Take 5 ml of milk in a test tube and add 2 drops of bromothymol blue soln. Development of blue colour after 10 minutes indicates presence of urea. Argemone seeds have rough surface and mustard seeds on pressing is yellow inside while argemone seed is white. Put some lemon juice, bubbles are observed on the presence of washing powder Dissolve sugar in a glass of water, chalk will settle down at the bottom, similarly for salt On ignition genuine silver foil burns away completely leaving glistening white spherical ball of the same mass while aluminum foil is reduced to ashes of black Grey colour. A cotton wick dipped in pure honey burns when ignited with a match stick. If adulterated presence of water will not allow the honey to burn, if it does will produce a cracking sound.

Honey

Water

Food Article

Adulterant

Simple Method for Detecting the Adulterant

Gently sprinkle the coffee powder on surface of water in a glass. The coffee floats over the water but chicory begins to sink down within few seconds. The falling chicory powder particles leave behind them a trail of colour, due to large amount of caramel they contain Rub leaves on white paper, artificial colour comes out on paper. Tea leaves sprinkled on wet filter paper. Pink or red spots on paper show colour Move a magnet through the sample. Iron will stick to the magnet. Take 2gms sample in a test tube, add 5ml of acetone. Immediate appearance of red colour indicates presence of Rodamine. Brick powder settles fast chilli powder settles slowly when put in water. Add a few drops of HCl to the extract of turmeric from water. Instant appearance of violet, when the colour persists when diluted with water indicates the presence of metanil yellow. Extract the colour with Luke warm water from the sample of pulses, add drops of HCl. A pink colour indicates presence of metanil yellow. Take a small part of the sample and place it over a moistened white blotting paper, the impression of the colour on paper indicates the presence of malachite green

Coffee

Chicory

Coloured leaves Tea Used tea Iron fillings Rodamine Culture Brick Powder

Red Chilli Powder

Turmeric Powder

Metanil Yellow

Dal arhar, moong, washed channa

Metanil Yellow

Green vegetables like chilli

Malachite green

Food Article

Adulterant

Simple Method for Detecting the Adulterant

Take one teaspoonful of melted ghee or butter with equal quantity of Conc. Hydrochloric acid in a test tube and add to it a pinch of cane sugar. Shake well for one minute and let it stand for five minutes. Appearance of crimson colour in lower layer shows the presence of vanaspathi. Float the sample in alcohol. The mature black pepper berries sink while papaya seeds and light black pepper float.

Pure Ghee or Butter

Vanaspathi

Black Pepper

Papaya Seeds

Hing

Soap Stone or earthy matter

Shake a little portion of sample with water and allow to settle. Soap stone or earthy matter will settle down at the bottom. Pure saffron will not break easily like artificial. Pure saffron when allowed to dissolved in water will continue to give its colour so long as it lasts. Stir a spoonful of sample salt in water. Chalk will make the solution white and other insoluble impurities will setlle down.

Saffron

Coloured dried tendrils of maize cob

Common Salt

White powdered stone

Steps taken by the government

What can we do?

Food Adulteration occur in rural as well as urban areas. So the first option is to buy branded and ISI-marked products. Even if these branded items cost a little extra, it is worth paying the extra amount to safe guard your health. If you have purchased any branded item and doubt its quality, you can at least approach the company concerned. Always remember to preserve your grocery bills so that the company can take necessary steps regarding the complaint If any person manufactures for sale, stores, sell imports or distributes any article of food which is adulterated or misbranded, he is liable under the PFA Act to be punished with imprisonment and fined. If you find that any food is adulterated, then do not keep silent. Complain to Prevention of Food Adulteration Department in your city / town / district and report to the newspapers and make more and more people aware to take joint action Selection of wholesome and non-adulterated food is essential for daily life to make sure that such foods do not cause any health hazard. Although it is not possible to ensure wholesome food only on visual examination when the toxic contaminants are present in ppm/ppb level. However, visual examination of the food before purchase makes sure to ensure absence 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 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.

Aakanksha Gupta Anmol Yadav Arpita Gupta Gunjan Aggarwal Kajal Jha