Food Adulteration

UNIT-1
Unit-I: Common Foods and Adulteration

Adulteration -Defnition- Types; Poisonous substances, Foreign matter,

Cheap substitutes, Spoiled parts. Adulteration through Food Additives
-Intentional and incidental. General Impact on Human Health.

Food is essential for sustenance of life. We all eat

food and gain energy for diferent metabolic activities. All
living organisms need food for growth, work, repair and
maintaining life processes. There are diferent types of
food available today in the market and on a daily basis,
we all depend on various food sources, including
vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses, legumes, etc. As we
buy fresh veggies and other groceries, we might have
come across small pebbles in cereals and grains, darkly
stained vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, fruits, dark red
meat and a lot more.
DEFINITION :-
Adulteration or contamination of natural food
products is one of the major challenges in today's
society. Despite various actions and penalties, the
practice of adding adulterant is quite common in
developing countries. There are various methods used for
adulterating natural products. There are diferent types
of adulterants added to the grains, veggies and other
food products.
Food adulteration is the process in which the quality
of food is lowered either by the addition of inferior quality
material, or by extraction of valuable ingredient.

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Adulteration in legal terms means that a food product
fails to meet the State standards. The word is proper
only when the additions are unwanted by the consumer.
Adulterants when used in illicit drugs are called cutting
agents, while deliberate addition of toxic adulterants to
food or other products for human consumption is known
as poisoning
Following are the points which govt. uses to declare food
as adulterated.
(a) A substance is added which depreciates or injuriously
afects the food.
(b) Cheaper or inferior substances are substituted,
wholly or in part.
(c) Any valuable or necessary constituent has been
wholly or in part abstracted.
(d) It is an imitation.
(e) It is coloured or otherwise treated to improve its
appearance, or if it contains any added substance
injurious to health.
(f) For whatever reasons, quality is below the standard.
Nutritious substances which are added intentionally to
food, generally in small quantity, to improve its
appearance, favour, texture or storage properties are not
considered as adulterants.
Food adulteration is the process by which the value of
the food or its produces is abridged through the
accumulation of an alien or inferior substance, or the
elimination of a vital element.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF FOOD ADULTERATION :-

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Food adulteration is of three types:
(a) Intentional adulteration,
(b) Incidental adulteration, and
(c) Natural adulteration.
(a) Intentional adulteration: Intentional adulteration
means expressively adding some unwanted substances
to the food, or removing/replacing some of the items and
making it of poor quality. This is done for making
additional profts by decreasing the cost of production or
by increasing the quantity. Intention adulterants
comprise sand, marble, chips, stones, mud, chalk
powder, water, foreign seeds, leaves etc. Many of these
can be easily detected.
(b) Incidental adulteration : Sometimes food gets
incidentally or unintentionally polluted in the felds (e.g.
crops) during growth, harvesting, storage, processing,
transportation and handling by the producers as well as
by the consumer. Pesticides and insect residences,
metals, droppings of rodents, larvae of insects, the
microorganisms may enter the food at any stage.
(c) Natural adulteration: Natural adulteration occurs
due to the presence of certain chemicals or harmful
substances, naturally occurring in foods, e.g. lead from
water pipe joints mixes into the water. Pesticides
absorbed into the soil with water which are taken up by
the plants grown on such soil. Some types of fsh, some
ranges of pulses, mushrooms etc. are poisonous for
human consumption.
Why is food Adulteration done?

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The process of contamination of food or food components
is a common phenomenon in developing countries. For
example, milk is diluted by adding water to increase its
quantity; and starch powder is added to increase its solid
content. Listed below are some of the reasons for
adulterating food products:
(a) Practiced as part of the business strategy.
(b) An imitation of some other food substance.
(c) Lack of knowledge of proper food consumption.
(d) To increase the quantity of food production and sales.
(e) Increased food demand for a rapidly growing
population.
(f) To make maximum proft from food items by fewer
investments.
Categories of food poisoning
(i) Natural food poisoning: Caused by a type of plant or
fsh that are toxic to humans.
Eg: Rhubarb leaves; Poisonous mushroom, pufer, fsh.
(ii) Chemical food poisoning: Caused by chemicals,
accidentally or negligently getting into the food.
Eg: Over use of insecticides, cleaning agents, heavy
metal contamination of fsh from industrial areas like
mercury poisoning in japan causing Minimata Bay
disease.
Foreign Matter
What is Foreign Matter?
Foreign matter is defned as any kind of outside
contaminant introduced to a food product at any point in
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its production or distribution. Problems with foreign
matter may arise from equipment design faws,
structural issues, or employee handling. Glass is the
most commonly reported foreign material in food that
can cause consumer injury.
The amount of foreign matter can afect the risk it
creates for the consumer. A foreign matter control
program can help a food processing facility control
conditions that pose risks of product contamination.
Relevance and regulation
The FDA notes that hard or sharp particles that are
natural parts of food, such as bones in seafood or the
shells of nuts, do not usually cause injury because the
consumer is aware of them. One exception is when a
food is labelled as having had the hard component
removed, such as pitted cherries.
If a food product contains a hard or sharp foreign object
that is 7–25 mm long, and the product is considered
ready-to-eat, or has minimal preparation steps that
would not eliminate or neutralize the hazard of the
foreign object, then the product should be considered
adulterated.
Application
Each food facility should create and establish a foreign
matter control program that suits its particular needs.
Therefore, not all control programs will look the same,
though they should all include a few main components:
1. Use of detection devices:
These devices remove or limit the amount of foreign
matter in a food product, which may include magnets,

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sifters, flters, strainers, metal detectors, X-rays, and
destoner units.
2. Follow-up on fndings:
If foreign matter is discovered in a product, it should not
only be removed or neutralised, but also investigated.
Identify the source of the contamination and resolve the
issue that caused it.
Few cheap substitutes used in food adulteration.
Here is a list of some Common Adulterants.
(i) Food grains and grams: Marble pieces, sand particles,
clay gittle, soap stone pieces.
(ii) Pulses: Kesari dal, colours.
(iii) Wheat four maida: Powdered lime - talcum powder.
(iv) Turmeric Powder (Haldi): Metanil yellow.
(v) Pepper: Dry papaya seeds.
(vi) Chilli powder: Coloured saw dust.
(vii) Sweets: Colours not permitted.
(viii) Honey: Jaggery, sugar.
(ix) Tea: Coloured tea leaves after removing the essence.
Detection:
(a) Ergot in Bajra seeds: Put some grains in a glass
containing 20% salt solution. Ergot will foat on the
surface, while sound bajra seeds will sink.
(b) Coal tar dye in Roasted gram: The colour is obviously
visible.
(c) Iron flings in Ravva (sooji): Pass a magnet through
the sooji. The iron flings will cling to it.
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Food spoilage
Food spoilage is defned as damage or injury to food
rendering in unsuitable for human consumption.
Food must be considered spoiled if it is contaminated
with pathogenic microorganisms or various poisonous
agents,
such as pesticides, heavy metals etc.
Main causes of food spoilage
Physical changes:
->air, temperature, mechanical efects
-> Caused by the inappropriate transport, handling and
storage
Biological factors:
Microbiological
Bacteria, yeasts, moulds (most common)
Microbiological:
 Rodents, insects, birds, parasites
 Chemical biochemical factors
 Non-microbial or enzymatic changes usually
involving
 Oxygen, oxidation processes (eg, rancidity of fats
and oils)
 Activity of endogenous tissue enzymes (food of
vegetable or animal origin)
Consequences of food spoilage
Physical, chemical, and microbiological food spoilage
cause the occurrence of some detrimental efects given

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below:
• Loss in nutritional value
• Undesirable changes in appearance, color, and texture
• Of-favor and rancid (in other words bitter) taste
formation
• Decrease in shelf life
Unacceptable and unsafe foods
Food Additives and sweetening agents
I. Following are some of the food additives :
(a) Preservatives :
Examples: Sodium carbonate, Sodium benzoate, Sorbic
acid.
(b) Colouring materials:
Examples: Brilliant blue FCF; Fast green FCF; tetrazine;
Erythrosine; Sunset Yellow FCF.
(c) Flavouring agents:
Vanilla, diacetyl, isoamyl acetate, limonene, ethyl
propionate, allyl hexanoates.
Sweetening Agents :
(a) Natural sweetening agents:
Examples: Sucrose, fructose, honey, molasses.
(b) Artifcial sweetening agents:
Examples: Cyclamate, aspartame, isomalt, mannitol,
sorbital, xylitol, erythritol.
Various food additives are as follows:

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(a) Flavourings: Substances used to give a diferent,
stronger, or more agreeable taste and aroma to foods and
drinks.
Examples
(i) Amyl acetate used as banana favouring; (ii)
Benzaldehyde for bitter almond and cherry; (iii)
Manzanate for apple; (iv) Cinnamal- (v) Methyl
anthranilate for grape, dehyde for cinnamon; (vi)
Limonene for orange; (vii) Allyl hexanoate for pineapple;
(vii)Ethylvanillin for vanilla; (ix) Ethyl propionate for
fruity; and(x) 2,4-dithiapentane for Trufe.
(b) Stabilizers: Stabilizer is a chemical that is used to
prevent degradation. Examples are (i) alginic acid (ii)
pectin; (iii) gelatin; (iv) calcium carbide etc.
(c) Preservatives: Preservatives prevent or inhibit
spoilage of food due to fungi, bacteria and other micro
organisms.
Examples; Natural preservatives such as vinegar oil,
sugar syrup, and
artifcial preservatives such as nitrites, sulphites,
benzoates etc.
(d) Humectants: Prevent food from drying out Examples
are glycerine, sorbitol, mannitol, propylene glycol.
(e) Glazing agents: Glazing agents provide a shiny
appearance or protective coating to foods.
Examples are
(i) Stearic acid, (ii) Beeswax; (iii) Candelilla wax
(f) Flour treatment agents: Added to four to improve
its colour or its use in baking. Examples are

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(1) Azodicarbonamide (2) Carbamide.
(g) Anti-foaming agents: Reduce or prevent foaming in
foods
Examples (1) Polydimethylsiloxane (a type of silicone)
(u) Silicone oil is added to cooking oil to prevent foaming
in deep-frying.
(h) Curing agents: Used to preserve (cure) meats, give
them desirable colour and favour; discourage growth of
micro-organisms and prevent toxin formation. Example
are sodium nitrite and sweetening agents.
II. Sweetening Agents:
Chemicals that sweeten food are called artifcial
sweetening agents. They do not add calories to the
human body. They do not harm our body. Examples:
aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, alitame etc.
Sweetening agents (SA) (e.g. sucrose, fructose, honey,
molasses); and sweeteners (eg. cyclamate, aspartame,
isomalt, mannitol, sorbital, xylitol, erythritol) are among
the common food ingredients and additives.

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