Food Contamination and Adulteration

Food fraud
Food fraud is a collective term used to encompass the deliberate and intentional
substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients, or
food packaging; or false or misleading statements made about a product for
economic gain.
These definitions broadly reference three types of fraud, namely:
1. Complete or partial replacement of a food ingredient or valuable authentic
constituent with a less expensive substitute (or alternative animal species in the
case of some meat and fish);
2. Addition of small amounts of a non – authentic substance to mask inferior quality
ingredient (or excess packing ingredients, including water and ice); and
3. Removal or intentional omission of an authentic and valuable constituent in a food
product or food ingredient.
1
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Dilution - mixing a liquid ingredient of high value with a liquid of lower
value.
Grey market production/theft/diversion - sale of excess unreported product.
Substitution - replacing an ingredient, or part of
the product, of high value with another
ingredient, or part of the product of lower value.
Concealment - hiding the low quality of food
ingredients or product.
Mislabeling - placing false claim on packaging
for economic gain.
Unapproved enhancement - adding unknown
and undeclared materials to food products to
enhance the quality attributes. 
Counterfeiting - copying the brand name, packaging concept, recipe, processing
method, etc. of food products for economic gain.
2
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Food Contamination

Food contamination means the deterioration in quality of the foodstuff.

Contamination is unintentional. It is occurred because of physical, chemical,
biological and environmental factors.
 Physical factor: insects, rodents etc. can damage the foodstuff 
 Chemical factor: if any chemical such as lead, mercury is added unwillingly in
the food particle.
 Biological factor: growth of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, mold etc.) in the
food
 Environmental factor: Temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure etc.

3
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Contamination for the most part is predictable (e.g., higher residues of arsenic and
lead can be expected in plants grown in soil that is itself high in arsenic and lead;
the application of pesticides and insecticides in general will lead to their residues in
plants). These scenarios are often referred to as technically unavoidable. Risks from
contamination are generally easier to manage or limit because they involve
hazards that manufacturers know they need to carefully control. Additional
examples are aflatoxins in peanuts, microbiological contaminants in fresh or canned
products.

4
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Food contaminants are substances that may be present in certain foodstuffs due to
environmental contamination, cultivation practices or production processes.
Some contaminants are formed naturally; some are carried over to food from water,
air or soil, or created as a by-product of the food production process itself. For
example, the chemical compound acrylamide sometimes found in potato crisps, is
the result of cooking practices. Another example is mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin,
produced by fungi which can be found in nuts, maize and other several foods.
In other words, food contaminants are any harmful substances intentionally
/unintentionally added to food. They are from different sources and types. Whatever
may be the source and types, they can cause consumer illness.

5
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Generally food contaminants may be classed as following.

 Biological contaminants: ants, flies, pests, insects, plants, fungi, bacteria, other
microorganisms etc.
 Chemical contaminants: petrol, fertilizer, soaps, cleaners, detergents,
insecticides, pesticides, additives, polishes, varnishes, packaging contaminants,
heavy metals, veterinary drugs residue etc.
 Physical contaminants: paper-clips, iron particles, stones, pieces of glasses, radio
activity residue etc.

6
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Effects of Food Contamination
The symptoms of consuming contaminated food include upset stomach, nausea,
vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever and dehydration. Symptoms may
appear as early as 30 minutes after eating contaminated food or as long as several
days. Some severe cases may require hospitalization. Some symptoms are:
Upset Stomach, Nausea and Vomiting
Upset stomach, nausea and vomiting may be signs of food contamination. E. coli is
a common bacterial contamination in undercooked meat, water, raw milk and
vegetables that have been in contact with manure. It can also be passed from an
infected person.
Abdominal Cramps
Abdominal cramps will typically accompany other food contamination symptoms.
Salmonella is most often found in egg, dairy, poultry and beef products.

7
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Diarrhea
Diarrhoea is a symptom that appears with other digestive conditions with food
contamination. Clostridium botulinum may be found in food that canned at home, but
not done properly.
Fever
If fever is present with gastrointestinal symptoms, it may mean exposure to
contaminated food. Clostridium perfringens appears in meat, poultry, gravy and foods
that were prepared a full day before consumption that were not reheated properly.
Dehydration
Dehydration can occur as a result of severe vomiting and diarrhea. Replacement of
fluids is critical to recovery of illness from food contamination.
Warnings
Thorough and frequent hand washing can prevent food contamination. Avoiding cross
contamination of different foods as well as washing utensils.
8
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Food Adulteration
Adulteration is defined as the process by which the quality or the nature of the given
substances is reduced through addition of inferior substances or inedible substance
or removal of vital components. The good example is addition of water to milk,
addition or mixing of Alkoxyaminonitro benzenes instead of natural sugar and
syrups in making carbonated fizzy drinks, addition of melamine in milk powder and
removal of fat from the milk.
Adulteration consists of adding external chemical substance into a food product that
contains naturally similar substances (Cordella et al., 2003).
According to this Food Act (2023), any ingredient which when present in food is
injurious to health is an adulterants and the article of food that shall be deemed to be
adulterated.

9
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
A food is said to be adulterated if the following condition exist:
 If the food contains poisonous or other harmful substances at a detrimental
concentration
 If the food contains filth (dirt, rubbish, refuse and waste) decomposed, or
otherwise unfit
 If the food was prepared or handled under unsanitary conditions such that it may
have become contaminated
 If the food is derived from a diseased animal
 If the food was subjected to radiation, other than were permitted
 If any valuable constituents of the food is omitted
 If any specified ingredient has been substituted by a non – specified ingredient
 If inferiority is concealed (masked, hidden)
 If the food contains a coloring agent that is not approved or certified

10
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Types of Adulteration
Adulteration may be intentional or incidental.
1. Intentional Adulteration
Intentional adulteration refers to the practice of deliberately contaminating food by a
person or group of people. In other words, it involves the deliberate addition of
inferior materials to a food to heighten appearance qualities and to gain greater
profits.
These inferior substances include ground material (e.g., sawdust), leaves, powdered
products (e.g., starches), and other spice species. An example in this regard is the
adulteration of milk with synthetic milk that contains harmful substances such as
urea, caustic soda, or vegetable oil. Although 180–400 mg/L urea is present naturally
in milk, the cutoff limit is a concentration of 700 mg/L (FSSAI, 2012). The
concentration of urea beyond the cutoff limit may cause diseases and disorders such
as indigestion, acidity, ulcers, cancer, and kidney malfunction (Trivedi et al., 2009).
11
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Food Products Adulterants Side Effects on Human Body
Vanaspati, starch powder and mashed Gastro-intestinal and other
Cheese, ghee and butter potatoes stomach disorders
Coffee powder Powdered tamarind seeds, chicory Diarrhoea
Honey Molasses, dextrose, sugar and corn syrups Stomach disorders

Jaggery Washing soda, chalk powder Vomiting and other stomach

disorders
Pesticide residues, sawdust, chalk dust,
Turmeric powder industrial dyes, metallic yellow dye, arsenic, Cancer and stomach disorders
lead, other metal, etc.
Allergic reactions, skin and
Pepper Blackberries and dried seeds of papaya
stomach irritations
Tea Artificial colouring agents Liver disorders
Gallbladder cancer, cardiac arrest,
Edible Oils Artificial colours, karanja oil, mineral oil and allergies, paralysis, and high LDL
castor oil
cholesterol

12
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Food Products Adulterants Side Effects on Human Body
Vanaspati, starch powder and mashed Gastro-intestinal and other
Cheese, ghee and butter potatoes stomach disorders
Low blood sugar, liver issues,
Cinnamon sticks Cassia bark mouth sores and elevated risk of
cancer

Cumin seeds Sawdust, coloured grass seeds and charcoal Stomach disorders
dust
Dust, pebbles, stones, straw, weed seeds, Liver disorders, toxicity in the
Grains damaged grain, etc. body, etc.
Abdominal contractions,
Mustard seeds Argemone seeds sluggishness and increased
excretion
Milk and curd Water and starch powder Stomach disorders
Stomach disorders and kidney
Sugar Chalk powder, Washing soda, Urea, etc.
failure

13
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Incidental Adulteration
Incidental adulteration occurs when foreign substances are added to a food as a
result of ignorance, negligence, or improper facilities. It is not a willful act on the
part of the adulterer. E.g. Pesticides residues, zinc from can, droppings of rodents,
larvae in food metallic contaminants.

Metallic contamination: Some metallic residues are highly toxic when they get
entrance to human body and these are arsenic, lead, mercury etc.
Arsenic: Arsenic pesticides are main source of arsenic contamination of foods. For
examples fruits as apples and grapes are sprayed with lead arsenates, if eaten without
washing could be harmful. The quantity of arsenic allowed in food products varies
from 0.1 ppm (milk) to 5.0 ppm (spices) depending upon the food. When arsenic
concentration is higher than the prescribed limit, it can cause dizziness, chills,
cramps and paralysis.
14
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Lead: Lead could get into food through the lead pipes carrying water and from food
colors containing lead salts. The quantity of lead allowed in food products varies
from 0.5 ppm to 10.0 ppm depending on the food products.
Mercury: It is present in the form of its compounds in water and food. The effluents
form many chemical industries, now –a-days have high concentration of mercury
and human beings and animals consuming crops grown with such water or fish form
such areas could develop mercury poisoning. Intake of above 0.0033mg of mercury
per person is harmful.
Tin: Canned foods and beverages usually contain small quantities of tin. Content in
foods may cause severe headache, vomiting, vertigo, photophobia, addominal
pain ,dehydration and retention of urine.

15
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Simple physical tests for detection of common food adulterants
Consumer should be aware of common adulterants and simple visual tests to detect
them. A few are enumerated below:
1. Inorganic and organic matter may be present in rice, sugar, pulses, mustards,
cumin seeds, wheat and jowar etc. Inorganic matter consists of matter like sand,
gravel, dirt, pebbles, and stones, lumps of earth, clay or mud. Organic matter
could be chaff, straw, foreign edible seeds. Such matter can be observed and
removed visually.
2. Kesari dal in rahar, masoor, channadals: Kesari dals has a characteristic wedge
shape. There are two varieties. One is small and resembles masoor dal. The large
is the size of arhar. The husked kesari dal is mixed with arhar and chanadals.
The unhusked one is mixed with black masoor or Bengal gram.
3. Argemone seeds mixed with mustard seed: Argemone seeds are small and
black in color resembling mustard but not uniformly smooth and round. They can
be identified under magnifying glass. 16
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

4. Artificial coal tar dye may be present in roasted gram and tea leaves: Usually
this can be detected by visual observations. Depositing the tea on a moistened
blotting paper will show coal tar dye presence by the color spreading on the
blotting paper.
5. Girts in sugar and salts: Dissolve a little of the sample in hot water, sugar and
salt will dissolve where as grits will not.
6. Iron filling in suji or tea leaves: By drawing a magnet over the sample iron
filling will cling to the magnet thus revealing their presence.

17
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Simple Laboratory chemical tests

These tests are described as follows:

1. Metanil yellow in haldi powders, Methai (Jeri, Laddu, Bunia etc.): Take 2 gram
of ground sample in a test tube, add 5 ml of alcohol. Shake and add a few drops of
concentrated HCl, a pink coloration indicates the presence of metanil yellow.
2. Artificial color in chillies: Rub the outer side of the chilli with the cotton cloth; If
the cotton extracts the color and becomes red, it is an indication that the sample has
added color.
3. Addition of starch to milk, dairy sweets, butter, coffee powder etc: Add a drop
of iodine solution to small quantity of sample, formation of blue color indicates
adulteration with starch.

18
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

4. Mineral acid in aerated water: Prepare metanil yellow paper by soaking filter
paper strips in 0.1 % aquous solution of metanil yellow. The paper is soaked in
aerated beverages. Mineral acid would color the paper violet. This is retained
even in drying the paper.
5. Argemeone oil with mustard oil: Heat 5 ml of test sample with 5 ml of nitric
acid for 2-3 minutes. A red colour will appear if argemone oil is present.

19
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

6. Rancidity in oils: Take the 5 ml of sample in test tube add 5 ml of 0.1 %

Phosphoglucinol solution in ether. Shake for 30 minutes and then allow standing
for 30 min. A pink or red color in the acid indicates that the oil sample is rancid.
7. Baudouin Test: This test is useful in the detection of adulteration of dairy ghee
with vanaspati ghee. The test is based on the color reaction between the
sesamoline (a compound present in sesame oil) and furfural. In Nepal use of
sesame oil in vanaspati is mandatory. Dairy ghee containing sesamoline gives a
positive Baudouin test, there by indicating the presence of vanaspati ghee.

20
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Principle of baudouin test: The development of pink color with furfural solution in
the presence of hydrochloric acid indicates the presence of sesame oil. The color is
produced on account of reaction with sesamoline present in sesame oil.
Requirements
 Stopper test tube
 Measuring cylinder
 Furfural solution (2% furfural freshly distilled in ethyl alcohol)
 Concentrated hydrochloric acid
 Oil sample

21
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Procedure
Take 5ml of the oil or melted fat in a 25 ml measuring cylinder or (test tube )
provided with a glass stopper
 Add 5 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid
 Add 0.4 ml of furfural solution
 Insert the glass stopper and shake vigorously for two minutes
 Let stand and allow the mixture to separate. The development of pink or red color
in the lower acid layer indicates presence of sesame oil.
 Conform by adding 5 ml of water and shaking again. If the color in acid layer
persists, sesame oil is present; if the color disappears it is absent.

22
 Food Contamination and Adulteration
Hexabromide test

This test is of importance for detecting adulteration of edible oil with linseed oil
(which is inedible). The test is based on the formation of insoluble polybromides when
unsaturated fatty acids are brominated. Di- and tetrabromides that result from oleic
and linoleic acids are soluble and therefore do not interfere with this visual test.
Principle
The formation of a precipitates of hexabromide when the oil in chloroforms is treated
with bromine and then with alcohol and ether in cold condition indicates the presence
of linseed oil.
Requirements
 Boiling tubes
 Chloroforms
 Liquid bromine
 Ice water bath
 Ethyl alcohol and Diethyl ether 23
 Food Contamination and Adulteration

Procedure
1. Pipette 1 ml of oil into a boiling tube(wide-mouthed, 100 ml capacity)
2. Add 5 ml of chloroform and about 1 ml of bromine drop-wise till the mixture
becomes deep red in color
3. Cool the test tube in an ice water-bath
4. Add about 1.5 ml of rectified spirit drop-wise while shaking the mixture until the
precipitate which was first formed just dissolves
5. Add 10 ml of diethyl ether
6. Mix the contents and place the tube within the ice water-bath for 2- min
7. Appearance of precipitates indicates the presence of linseed oil

The sensitivity of this of this test is about 1% of linseed oil in other oils. The test
has some limitations. It is not suitable for test in mahua oils.
24