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Adulterated, Fake Foods – How can we test adulterated food?
Adulteration of food commonly defined as ‘the addition or subtraction of any substance to or from the food so that the natural composition and quality of the food is altered. Adulteration of food can be intentional or unintentional. When intentional -food is adulterated by either adding or removing something from the food so that the texture of the natural food is totally changes. Unintentional adulteration happens because of careless or lack of facilities while handling or manufacturing the food.
The common person unfortunately remains largely unaware of these adulteration facts and will be subjected to misery. It can act on consumer’s health and can risk children life. Some of the common foods that gets adulterated are milk, milk products, flour, condiments, edible oils, coffee, tea, confectioneries, curry powder, besan powder, baking powder, non-alcoholic beverages , vinegar, cereals and pulses. Consumer awareness is one of the solution to make public aware of these adulteration of food. FSSAI, of India has come up with several Quick test for Some adulteration of common foods. Let us see how we can detect adulteration of few foods.
Salt: Iodized salt will be adulterated with plain salt. Cut a potato piece and add iodized salt on the potato piece. Wait for few minutes and add lemon juice. If blue color develops then – it is iodized salt as the label claims. If not it is just plain salt.
Common salt:
Chalk powder: Dissolve salt in water and observe for color change. If chalk powder is present in the salt then it will settle down at bottom and also color of the water changes to light white.
Saffron:
Dried tendrils of maize: When put in water real saffron will not break easily and as long as it lasts saffron keeps releasing color.
Coconut oil:
With other edible oils: Place a bottle of coconut oil in refrigerator. After sometime coconut oil freezes and other edible oil will separate without freezing.
Honey:
Sugar water: Honey is often adulterated with water to increase the bottle’s quantity. The best way to ensure that is not the case, dip a cotton wick in pure honey and light it with a matchstick. If there is water in the jar it won’t allow the honey to burn.
Tea leaves are often adulterated with chemicals and additives that add to its aroma or flavor. But the most common kind is color. Take a filter paper and spread a few tea leaves on it. Sprinkle some water over the filter. If there is any color present in the leaves then it will stain the paper. Now wash the filter paper under tap water and carefully look for stains against the light.
Iron fillings: Hold magnet over tea powder and iron will attach to magnet
Coffee powder:
Iron fillings: Spread coffee powder on a paper and slowly move magnet on the powder -if there is iron contamination then iron powder sticks to magnet
Chicory: Eventhough chicory is considered as accepted adulterant, many countries does not allow chicory in coffee. Ground chicory when thrown on cold water sinks quickly, coloring the water, and is soon softened, whereas ground roasted coffee floats, imparting no color. Chicory is easily bleached by chlorinated soda (labarraque solution); coffee is but slowly affected by this bleaching agent.
Wheat flour: Chalk powder, plaster of Paris, burnt bones, potato flour, maize and rice flour.
When you mix wheat flour in water chalk powder settles down.
The chapattis or rotis prepared from adulterated wheat flour tastes insipid.
Turmeric powder:
Colored saw dust – Add few drops of conc. HCl to one tsp of turmeric powder. If the pink color develops and disappears then it is not adulterated. If the color persists then turmeric powder is adulterated.
Chalk powder or yellow soap stone: Use effervescence test by adding HCl to turmeric water. Presence of bubbles indicates presence of chalk or soap stone.
Chilli powder:
Brick powder, salt or talc powder: Mix chilli powder in water and see the color change of water and also look for any sedimentation indicating the adulteration
Artificial color: Sprinkle chilli powder on glass of water and see whether there is color separation in water.
Adulteration of cereals and pulses are very common and the visual test is the only solution for this problem. Be careful when you buy cereals and pulses – make sure there is no worms, visible dusts, flies, wood pieces etc.
Pulses: Kesari daal adulteration with yellow color, saw dust, husk, stones in all pulses.
Black mustard seed: Adding argemon seedss which is dangerous for health and it caused epidemic dropsy.
Wheat and bajra: Ergot fungus which appears like grain that floats when put in water and datura seeds that are highly poisonous. Datura seeds are flat with blacking brown color in the edges.
Black pepper:Papaya seeds mix and light black pepper seeds that are quality rejected. Put few seeds of black pepper in alcohol. Papaya and light seeds will float and heavy black pepper seeds will settle down at bottom.
White rice: Plastic rice adulteration: Recently in Kerala plastic rice is detected in white rice. According to recent reports the rice that are coming from China is made by mixing potatoes, sweet potatoes and plastic. The rice stays hard even after being cooked and the soup forms a plastic sheath on its layer. This sheath while after drying burns like plastic.
Sugar adulteration is common especially when the prices of jaggery and sugar goes up. Common adulteration materials for sugar are: chalk powder and urea.
How do you find out?
Chalkpowder: Dissolve 10 grams of sugar in water and allow it to settle down for 15 minutes. Chalk will settle down at bottom of the cup.
Urea: Dissolve sugar in water and smell it. If it gives ammonia odor then sugar contains urea.
Washing soda in jaggery: Add few drops of HCl to jaggery and if effervescence appears then it indicates presence of soda.
Metanil yellow color in jaggery: Take 1/4 tsp of jaggery, add 3 ml of ethyl alcohol and shake it. To this slowly add 10 ml of HCl. A pink color appears indicating presence of adulteration of metanil in jaggery.
Image: Food Security officials inspecting a jaggery unit at Omalur in Salem district, www.thehindu.com
Ghee is clarified butter which people use for day to day cooking – for making sweets, medicines, offerings etc. Even ghee is no exception for adulteration.
How do you find out?
Vanaspathi & margarine: Take 2 ml of melted ghee and slowly from inside of the test tube add 2 ml of conc. Hydrochloric acid. Add pinch of sugar. Shake and keep it for few minutes. A crimson color at the bottom of the mix indicates vanaspathi or margarine is mixed with ghee!
Potato, starch : Add few drops of iodine to melted ghee. If any of potato or other starch materials mixed with ghee, the mix will turn to blue.
Vegetable oil mixing: Ghee is an animal fat with cholesterol and all other oils that are plant based contains sterols. The Baoudoin test helps to detect oil mixing in ghee. Add few drops of **Hydrochloric acid and freshly distilled 2% furfural in 95% ethyl alcohol. The development of pink color in the mix indicates presence of sesame oil.
** Be careful while handling Hydrochloric acid as it is dangerous. You can take milk sample to local colleges and labs seeking their help for this test.
Water:Run a drop of milk on a slope surface. Water added milk will run fast on the slope not leaving white mark behind. Whereas pure milk runs slowly leaving white thread mark behind
Starch:Add few drops of iodine or tincture to milk, if milk changes to blue color starch is added.
Urea: Add 1/2 teaspoon of soybean powder to milk in a test tube and mix it. After 5 minutes, dip a litmus paper in the mix. If the color changes from red to blue then the milk is adulterated with urea.
Formalin:Take 10 ml of milk and slowly from the inner side of the test tube add 5 ml of conc. Sulphuric acid**. If a blue ring forms in the center of the intersection of two liquids then there is formalin adulteration.
** Be careful while handling sulphuric acid as it is dangerous. You can take milk sample to local colleges and labs seeking help for this test.
