PROJECT REPORT

ADULTERATION
IN
FOOD ITEMS
(2021 TO 2022)

SUBMITTED BY:
R ARJUN MURUGAPPAN
AISSCE INVESTIGATORY PROJECT (2021
TO 2022)

Subject: Chemistry
Teacher: K Hariharan
Project topic: Adulteration
in food items
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to express our

heartfelt gratitude to our
chemisty teacher, Mr. K Hariharan
for his guidance and support in
completing the project

We would also like to extend our

gratitude to our Principal,
Mrs. Uma Parvathy for providing
us with all the facility that was
required

Thank You
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Government measures
• Adulteration in cumin
seeds
• Adulteration in asafoetida
• Adulteration in honey
• Adulteration in tea leaves
• Adulteration in pepper
corn
• Adulteration in various
spices
• Bibliography
 INTRODUCTIO
N
• food is essential for sustenance of life. We
all eat food and gain energy for different
metabolic activities. All living organisms
need food for growth, work, repair and
maintaining life processes.
• There are different 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.
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.
Food Adulteration can be defined as the
practice of adulterating food or
contamination of food materials by adding a
few substances, which are collectively called
adulterants.

Adulterants are the substance or poor quality

products added to food items for economic
and technical benefits. Addition of these
adulterants reduces the value of nutrients in
food and also contaminates the food, which
is not fit for consumption. These adulterants
can be available in all food products which
we consume daily, including dairy products,
cereals, pulses, grains, meat, vegetables,
fruits, oils, beverages, etc.
 ACT 37 OF 1954:
FOOD ADULTERATION ACT, 1954 WAS
INTRODUCED TO MAKE PROVISION
FOR THE PREVENTION OF
ADULTERATION OF FOOD IN INDIA.
FOOD ADULTERATION IS THE
ADDITION OR SUBTRACTION OF ANY
SUBSTANCE TO OR FROM FOOD, THUS
AFFECTING THE NATURAL
COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF FOOD
SUBSTANCES.

LIST OF AMENDING ACTS AND ADAPTATION ORDER

• 1. The Electricity (Suply) Amendment Act, 1949 (57 of 1949).
• 2. The Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.
• 3. The Part B states (Laws) Act, 1951 (3 of 1951).
• 4. The Electricity (Supply) Amendment Act, 1956 (101 f 1956).
• 5. The Indian Electricity (Amendment Act, 1959 (32 of 1959).
• 6. The Electricity (Supply) Amendment Act, 1962 (44 of 1962).
• 7. The Electricity (Supply) Amendment Act, 1966 (30 of 1966).
• 8. The Electricity (Supply) Amendment Act, 1976 (115 of
1976).
• 9. The Electricity (Supply) Amendment Act, 1978 (23 of 1978).
 GOVERNMENT MEASURES:
• Instances of sale/supply of sub-standard and
adulterated food stuffs including edible oil have come
to the notice of Food Safety and Standards Authority
of India (FSSAI). To prevent food adulteration regular
surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random
sampling of food products, including edible oil, are
being carried out by Food Safety Officers of States/UT
and action has been initiated against as per the
provisions of FSS Act, 2006 against the defaulting Food
Business Operators.

• In order to ensure the availability of good quality

foodstuffs to the consumers and for keeping a check
on problem of food adulteration, the state food safety
authorities have been advised from time to time to
keep a strict vigil by regularly drawing food samples
from all sources viz. Manufacturers, wholesalers and
retailers and to take strict action against the offenders
under the provisions of FSS Act, 2006. To check sale of
adulterated edible oil, FSSAI has notified regulations
which provide for sale of edible oils in packaged form
only except for sale of loose oil in specific
circumstances as permitted by State Government.
 Experiment 1
DETECTION OF GRASS SEEDS COVERED IN CHARCOAL DUST IN
CUMIN SEEDS

AIM: To detect the adulteration of grass seeds covered with

charcoal dust in cumin seeds

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Cumin seeds, Charcoal dust, glass of

water, starch with grass seeds colored.
PROCEDURE:
METHOD(I):Rub small amount of cumin seeds on palm of the
hand
METHOD(II):1)Take about 5g of cumin seeds .
2)Mix the cumin seeds with charcoal dust and with
the grass seeds and put them in a glass of water

OBSERVATION:
METHOD(I): if palm of the hand turns black while rubbing,
adulteration of foreign substances are observed in the cumin
seeds.
METHOD(II):after leaving the cumin seeds in water we can
observe that the adulterations come up whereas the cumin
settle down at the bottom.

RESULT: These activities can be used to determine adulterations

in cumin seeds.
 EXPERIMENT 2
DETECTION OF SOAP STONE OR EARTHY MATTER IN
ASAFOETIDA

AIM: To detect the adulteration of soap stone or other

earthly matter in asafoetida

MATERIALS REQUIRED: Asafoetida, Glass of water.

PROCEDURE:
(i) Take about 5 g of asafoetida, shake the portion of
sample with water and allow to settle

OBSERVATION:
(i) We can see that pure asafoetida will not leave any
soap stone or any other earthly matter.

(ii) if asafoetida is adultrated, soap stone or other

earthy matter will settle down at the bottom

RESULT:This activity can be used to determine the

adulterations in asafoetida
 EXPERIMENT 3
ADULTERATION OF HONEY

Honey Is One Of The Foods Which Is Commonly Adulterated

With Sugar Water In Order To Maximise The Quantity For
Maximising The Profit !
Also , We Can Easily Check If Honey Is Adulterated With A
Simple 2 Mins Experiment .
For This We Require A Transparent Glass , Water And Few Drops
Of Honey .

AIM : to show the adulteration of honey with sugar water .

EXPERIMENT :
Take 100 Ml Of Water In A Transparent Glass . Add 4-5 Drops Of
Honey Into The Glass Gently Without Mixing . Allow This
Mixture To Settle Down For 2 Mins And Observe.

OBSERVATION :
If The Honey Disperses Into The Water While Settling Down , We
Can Confirm That It Is Adulterated With Sugar Water As It Is The
Sugar Particles Which Mix With Water And Not Pure Honey.
If It Doesn’t Disperse And Settles Down As A Thick Liquid At The
Bottom Of The Glass , We Can Confirm That It Is Pure Honey.
PRECAUTIONS :
Take Care Not To Mix The Honey While Adding It Into
The Water As It Will Destroy The Whole Purpose Of
This Experiment .

RESULT :
Through This Experiment , We Can Easily Find Out If
The Honey We Buy Is Adulterated Or Not.
So Next Time We Buy “Pure Honey” For A Large
Amount Of Money , We Can Test It With This
Experiment If We Have Residual Doubts If Its Really
“Pure” Or Not ….
 EXPERIMENT 4
DETECTION OF IRON FILINGS IN TEA
LEAVES

Aim:
To test the presence of iron filings in Tea Leaves.
Apparatus required:
1.Tea leaves
2.Strong Magnet
3.Plastic / Ceramic Plate
Procedure:
take a small quantity of tea leaves in a plastic or
ceramic plate.
move the magnet through the tea leaves.
Observation:
1.If Iron Filings are present in the tea leaves, they will
be attracted to the magnet and will be visible to us.
2.If Iron Filings are not present in the tea leaves, there
will be no iron filings visible on the magnet.

Result:
From the above experiment we can conclude if the tea
leaves are pure or adulterated.
Pure Tea Leaves

Adulterated Tea
Leaves
 EXPERIMENT 5
ADULTERATION OF PEPPERCORN
Pepper has been named the world’s most important
spice – popular for its distinctive taste, aroma and
versatility. At one time worth its weight in gold,
pepper now accounts for around 35% of the total
world spice trade. Because of its economic value,
black pepper has been shown to be susceptible to
food fraud.
Papaya seeds are often used as an adulterant for black
pepper, due to their high availability, low cost and
morphological similarities (in both whole and
powdered form). But although papaya seed and black
peppercorns appear nearly identical to the naked eye,
microscopic techniques have proved useful for
discriminating between these two commodities. The
typical microscopic feature of black pepper is a
continuous inner cell layer that can be seen when the
peppercorn is dissected. This is unlike the papaya
seed, which has a crenellated or wavy inner cell layer.
Aim:
To identify various adultrants in black peppercorn
through specific test.

Materials Required : Random treated black pepper,

glass of water, white paper, magnifying glass, rectified
spirit.
Procedure:
Papaya Seeds
Test Method 1:
•Add some amount of black pepper to a glass of
water.
•Pure black pepper settles at the bottom.
•In the adulterated black pepper, papaya seeds float
on the surface of
 EXPERIMENT 6
ADULTERATION IN VARIOUS SPICES

Aim:
To detect the presence of adulterants in samples of
chilli powder, turmeric powder and many more.

Apparatus required:
Test tubes, conc .HCL, dil HNO3, KI solutions

Procedure:
Common adulterants present in chilli powder,
turmeric are red coloured lead salts, yellow colour
lead salts;
serial no Experiment Procedure Observation

1 Adulteration Heat 1 ml of fat Appearance

of dyes in fat with conc. of pink colour
H2So4 and 4ml
acetic acid

2 Adulteration
of argemone
To small
amount of oil
No red colour
observed
oil in edible in a test tube
oils add few drops
of conc. HNO3
and shake

3 Adulteration Add small Brick powder

of brick amount of settles at the
powder in given red chilli bottom while
chilli powder powder in a pure chilli
beaker powder floats
containing over water
water

4 Adulteration To the sample Appearance

of yellow lead of turmeric of magenta
salts to powder add colour
turmeric conc . HCL
powder
RESULT:
THE REQUIRED ANALYSIS FOR
ADULTERANTS IN FOOD STUFFS HAS BEEN
MADE.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Web sites:
• Acs.org
• Rcs.org
• Chemical aid.com

Books
• Class XII chemistry text book
• Pradeep’s chemistry book