A food adulterant is any material which is added to food or any substance
which
adversely affects the nature, substance and quality of the food. Food adulteration takes into account not
only the intentional addition or substitution or abstraction of substances which adversely affect the
nature, substances and quality of foods, but also their incidental contamination during the period of
growth, harvesting, storage, processing, transport and distribution.
Although simple forms of adulteration like addition of water to milk and coloured starch to turmeric are
still prevalent, newer forms and types of adulteration are emerging such as urea in puffed rice to improve
texture; injecting colour into poor quality fruits and vegetables; addition of urea, sodium carbonate,
sodium hydroxide, formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide to increase shelf life of milk, etc.
There are many adulterants which might prove to be a hazard to our health especially if consumed over a long
period of time.
CALI-LABS offers the following tests in identifying adulterants in various foods.
| Food Item |
Adulterant |
| Milk |
Formalin, boric acid, hydrogen peroxide, melamine, antibiotics residues, pesticide residues,
neutralizers like sodium bi- carbonate, added urea, added sugar, starch.
|
| Ghee, Vanaspati |
Extraneous colour, animal body fat, hydrogenated vegetable oils, excessive moisture.
|
| Edible oils |
Castor oil, mineral oil, argemone oil, sesame oil, cotton seed oil, linseed oil, kanjara oil, kusum
oil, oil soluble colours, aflatoxins, pesticide residues, and cheaper vegetable oils.
|
| Spices |
Non- permitted colours (Sudan red, malachite green, Rhodamine B), mineral oil
coating, husk starch,
foreign seeds/ resins, extraneous matter.
|
| Non alcoholic beverages |
Saccharin, dulcin, brominates vegetable oil, non permitted colours, and excessive permitted colours.
|
| Confectionery, sweets, savouries |
Non- permitted colours, aluminium foil, permitted colour more than prescribed limit.
|
| Coffee |
Chicory, date or tamarind seeds, artificial colour.
|
| Tea |
Colour, iron filings, foreign leaves.
|
| Cereals and their products |
Fungal infestation, pesticide residues, sand, dirt, foreign starch, powdered chalk, iron filings.
|
