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) (Signature)
________
Ms. Archana Sharma Examiner
(Chemistry Teacher)
 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.
 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
 Aim:
Study of common food
adulterants in fat, oil, butter,
sugar, turmeric power, chilli
powder and pepper.

Page 1 of 29
 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

Page 2 of 29
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

Page 3 of 29
 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

Page 4 of 29
 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
Page 5 of 29
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

Page 6 of 29
 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,
Page 7 of 29
 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

Page 8 of 29
agricultural marketing.... this
organization certifies food
products for their quality.
Its objectives to promote the
Grading and Standardization
of agricultural and allied
commode.

Page 9 of 29
 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

Page 10 of 29
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

Page 11 of 29
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

Page 12 of 29
Page 13 of 29
 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:

Page 14 of 29
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.

Page 15 of 29
Page 16 of 29
 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

Page 17 of 29
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

Page 18 of 29
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

Page 19 of 29
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.

Page 20 of 29
Page 21 of 29
 Observation

Experiment Procedure Observation

Adulteration of Heat small amount of Appearance of oil floating on
paraffin wax vegetable ghee with the surface
and hydrocarbon in acetic anhydride.
vegetable ghee Droplets of oil
floating on the
surface of unused
acetic anhydride
indicate
the presence of wax
or hydrocarbon

Adulteration of Heat 1mL of fat with Appearance of pink colour.

dyes in fat a mixture of 1mL of
conc. H 2SO4
and 4mL of acetic
acid

Page 22 of 29
Adulteration of To small amount of oil in a
argemone oil in edible test tube, add few drops of
oils conc. HNO3 & shake.
Adulteration of various Take small amount of sugar
insoluble substances in a test tube and shake it
in sugar with little water.
Adulteration of yellow To sample of turmeric
lead salts to turmeric powder, add conc. HCl.
powder
Adulteration of red To a sample of
lead salts in chilli powder, add dil.
chilli powder HNO3. Filter the solution and
add 2 drops of KI solution
to the filtrate.
Adulteration of brick Add small amount
powder in chilli powder of given red chilli powder
in a beaker containing
water.
Adulteration of dried Add small amount of
papaya seeds in Pepper sample of pepper to
beaker containing water
and stir with a glass rod.
Page 23 of 29
No red
colour Observed.
Pure sugar dissolves
in water but
insoluble impurities
do not dissolve.
Appearance of
magenta colour.
No yellow ppt.
Brick powder settles
at the bottom while
pure chilli powder
floats over water.
Add small amount
of sample of pepper
to beaker containing
water and stir with
a glass rod.
 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
Page 24 of 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

Page 25 of 29
 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

Page 26 of 29
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

Page 27 of 29
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.

Page 28 of 29
 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

Page 29 of 29