FOOD ADULTERATION

Dr.M.Dhrakshayani

Definition

Food adulteration is the process by which the quality of the

food or its products is reduced through the addition of a

foreign or inferior substance or the removal of a vital element.

Food adulteration is of 3 types

Intentional adulteration

Incidental adulteration

Natural adulteration

Intentional adulteration

Intentional adulteration means knowingly adding

some undesirable substances to the food or

removing/replacing some of the items and making it

of poor quality. This is done for making extra profits

by reducing the cost of production or by increasing

the quantity. Intentional adulterants include sand,

marble chips, stones, mud, chalk powder, water,

foreign seeds and leaves etc.

Many of these can easily detected

Incidental adulteration

Sometimes food gets incidentally or

unintentionally contaminated in fields (e.g. crops)

during growth and harvesting, storage, processing,

transportation and handling by the producers as well

as by the consumer. Pesticide and insect residues,

metals, droppings of rodents, larvae of insects, micro-

organism may enter the food at any stage.

Natural adulteration

Natural adulteration occurs due to the presence of

certain chemicals or harmful substance naturally

occurring in foods e.g. lead from water pipes joints

mixes into the water. Pesticides seep into the soil

with water which are taken up by the plants grown on

such soil. Some species of fish, some varieties of

pulses, mushrooms etc. are toxic for human

consumption.

Simple tests to detect food adulterants

Vegetable oil

adulteration- argemone oil

Test- add 5 ml, cone. HNO3 to 5 ml sample. Shake carefully.

Allow the layer to separate. Crimson colour in the lower acid

layer indicates adulteration

Wheat flour Adulteration- (i) excessive sand and dirt

Test- shake a little quantity of sample with about 10 ml of

carbon tetra chloride and allow to stand. Grit and sandy matter will collect at the bottom

(ii) Excessive bran

Test- sprinkle on water surface. Bran will float on the surface.

(iii) Chalk powder

Test- shake sample with dil. Hcl effervescence indicates chalk.