Adulteration In Food Is Normally Present In Its Most Crude Form

Adulteration in food is normally present in its most crude form, prohibited substances are either added or partly or wholly substituted. In India normally the contamination/adulteration in food is done either for financial gain or due to carelessness and lack in proper hygienic condition of processing, storing, transportation and marketing. This ultimately results that the consumer is either cheated or often become victim of diseases. Such types of adulteration are quite common in developing countries or backward countries. However, adequate precautions taken by the consumer at the time of purchase of such produce can make him alert to avoid procurement of such food. It is equally important for the consumer to know the common adulterants and their effect on health.

Food... the basic necessity of life. We toil day and night for what? For that two morsel of wholesome nutritive food. And if at the end of the day we are not sure of what we eat, than what are we toiling for? We may be eating a dangerous dye, sawdust, soap stone, industrial starch, Aluminum foil and believe it, even horse-dung! Inviting disease rather than good health. And what are the law enforcing authorities doing? Looking the other way, ignoring, sitting on files and being bought and bribed. Milk... that ever-enduring milk. For time immemorial it had had been the basic staple food right from our

growing up stage, to when we have grown up. As a child we need it for growth and as a grown up we need it for replenishing our nutrition daily. Tired and bogged down, need something to rejuvenate... take a glass of milk. But even this has not been spared. Common adulterant, addition of water, flour, or any other starchy material say industrial starch. Addition of water and extraction of fat is very common and not harmful. But what when the milk you drink is not milk at all? Rather combination of urea, liquid detergent, a little sugar, vegetable oil and water... a Synthetic Milk! Remember the case in Delhi, where the racket was busted a few years back and there was a lot of hue and cry in the media regarding the same. Think of all those children who may have had the synthetic milk, what havoc it must have created for their system physically. And how are we sure that even now, we are not being supplied the same milk? Are the authorities doing any thing like random checking of milk and regular intervals? Turmeric is the basic ingredient of all our Indian cooking. Any Indian dish is not complete without it. But before you buy your next quota of this "masala" be careful of what you are buying. It may be adulterated with, Lead chromate, (which adds color as well as weight to it, being heavier), Metanil Yellow dye Or any starch based items like flour or rice powder or even industrial starch. Except flour or rice powder, all the other adulterants are health hazardous and cause irreparable damage to our system when eaten at regular intervals for a long period of time. Take for instance Lead chromate, it is one of the most toxic salts of lead. It can cause anemia, paralyses, mental retardation and brain damage in children and

abortion in pregnant women. Metanil yellow dye which is another non-permissible toxic colorant, is used mostly to color Besan or gram flour, pulses, miscellaneous prepared foods namely sweetmeats like ladoo, burfi, jelabi, dalmoth, papad, etc. to get that attractive deep yellow color. Food grade colors are available in the market but being more costly, traders take advantage of the lackadaisical approach of the law enforcing authorities and substitute it with the said cheap and non-permissible dyes and colors. While still on "Masalas" or spices, does one know what are the common adulterants, take for instance, for coriander powder or chili powder- sawdust, rice bran and sand. But wait! One cannot even imagine or fathomhorse-dung and cow-dung! This is not only unethical, from the business point of view, but a sin committed against the society at large. Any trader who is found resorting to such means of adulterations should be taken to task very strongly. People should try as far as possible to buy whole spices and grind them at home or purchase properly packed spices (with proper informative labeling) of standard F.P.O. I.S.I or AGMARK certified companies. Has anyone ever given a thought why the puffed rice or any other white colored eatable looks so dazzling white and bright, and attractive on the show windows of a sweetmeat shop? Well they may have been treated by ultra marine blue a chemical dye which is a nonpermissible and prohibited. And for that rich deep pink color (Gulaabi) Rhodamin-B is used- again a nonpermissible colorant. This colorant has also proven to be carcinogenic.

Argemone seeds that grow as weeds in the mustered fields are mixed with mustered seeds and its oil is mixed with mustered oil. Just a trace amount is all right, but when added deliberately it causes serious health hazards and even death. Dropsy is a straight after effect of consumption of this oil. It may also cause swelling, irregular fever, low pulse rate, enlargement of the liver, respiratory distress which may lead to heart failure. Adulteration of oil has become rampant, with a wide variety of oils available in the market, the consumer is not sure what combination of oils he gets when he buys it loose from the market. It is very harmful and hazardous to health when mixed with crude castor oil, industrial palmolein-oil, mineral oils etc. This is certainly a crime against humanity aimed at earning money at the cost of public health. Ghee is adulterated to the extent of 80 to 85 percent with Vanaspati . In actuality it is Vanaspati flavored with 15 or 20 percent of ghee by special process. Even in the year 1935-36 when, six samples of so called pure ghee was collected it was found that they were adulterated with vegetable products made from groundnut, and other oils and the extent of adulteration was up to 80 percent. Sand, dirt, earth, gritty matter, soap stone, common salt are added to flour, refined flour (maida), gram flour (besan), spices, sugar, tea-dust and coffee. And washing soda is added to table salt. In tea-dust one can even finds iron filings. And remember that lovely silver leaves used to decorate sweetmeats, burfi, and pan, you may be surprised what it is. It may be aluminum leave or foil, which is again very bad for health, causing a lot of

physical complications. Dried seeds of volatile oil are added to cloves, while mineral acids to vinegar, papaya seeds to black pepper. Aniseed or 'sauf' that after food tit-bit, is dyed with malachite green dye for that nice green color. In food grains and whole spices extraneous matter like stalks, stems, and foreign seeds are added.

Injurious Adulterants/Contaminants in Foods and their Health Effects

S Adulterant Foods Commonly .No Involved Adulterants in food 1 Argemone seeds Mustard seeds Argemone oil 2

3

4 5

Artificially coloured foreign seeds Foreign leaves or exhausted tea leaves, saw dust artificially coloured TCP Rancid oil

Diseases or Health Effects Epidemic dropsy,

Edible oils and fats Glaucoma, Cardiac arrest As a substitute for Injurious to health cumin seed, Poppy seed, black pepper Tea

Oils Oils

Injurious to health, cancer

Paralysis Destroys vitamin

6 7

8 9 10 11

12

13

A and E Sand, marble Food grains, pulses Damage digestive chips, stones, filth etc. tract Lathyrus sativus Khesari dal alone or Lathyrism (crippling spastic Mixed in other paraplegia) pulses Chemical Contamination Mineral oil (white Edible oils and fats, Cancer oil, petroleum Black pepper fractions) Lead chromate Turmeric whole and Anemia, abortion, powdered, mixed paralysis, brain spices damage Methanol Alcoholic liquors Blurred vision, blindness, death Arsenic Fruits such as Dizziness, chills, apples sprayed cramps, paralysis, over with lead death arsenate Barium Foods Violent contaminated by peristalisis, rat poisons arterial (Barium carbonate) hypertension, muscular twitching, convulsions, cardiac disturbances Cadmium Fruit juices, soft ‘Itai-itai (ouchdrinks, etc. in ouch) disease, contact with Increased cadmium plated salivation, acute vessels or gastritis, liver and equipment. kidney damage, Cadmium prostrate cancer contaminated water and shell-fish

14

Cobalt

15

Lead

16

Copper

17 18 19

Tin Zinc Mercury

Water, liquors

Cardiac insufficiency and mycocardial failure Water, natural and Lead poisoning processed food (foot-drop, insomnia, anemia, constipation, mental retardation, brain damage)

Food

Vomiting, diarrhoea Food Colic, vomiting Food Colic, vomiting Mercury fungicide Brain damage, treated seed grains paralysis, death or mercury contaminated fish

NOTE : Safe limits have been prescribed for above metals in different food. Continuous use of food contaminated with these metals beyond safe limits may cause these diseases Bacterial contamination 20 Bacillus cereus Cereal products, Food infection custards, puddings, (nausea, vomiting, sauces abdominal pain, diarrhoea) 21 Salmonella spp. Meat and meat Salmonellosis products, raw (food infection vegetables, salads, usually with fever shell-fish, eggs and and chills) egg products,

22

23

24

25

26 27 28 29 30

warmed-up leftovers Shigella sonnei Milk, potato, beans, Shigellosis poultry, tuna, (bacillary shrimp, moist dysentery) mixed foods Staphylococcus Dairy products, Increased aureus baked foods salivation, especially custard vomiting, Entero-toxinsor cream-filled abdominal cramp, A,B,C,D or E foods, meat and diarrhoea, severe meat products, low- thirst, cold acid frozen foods, sweats, salads, cream prostration sauces, etc. Clostridium Defectively canned Botulism (double botulinus toxins low or medium-acid vision, muscular foods; meats, paralysis, death A,B,E or F sausages, smoked due to respiratory vacuum-packed failure) fish, fermented food etc. Clostridium.perfrin Milk improperly Nausea, gens processed or abdominal pains, canned meats, fish diarrhoea, gas (Welchii) type A and gravy stocks formation Diethyl stilbestrol Meat Sterlites, fibroid (additive in animal tumors etc. feed) 3,4 Benzopyrene Skoked food Cancer Excessive solvent Solvent extracted Carcinogenic residue oil, oil cake etc. effect Non-food grade or Food Blood clot, contaminated angiosarcoma, packing material cancer etc. Non-permitted Coloured food Mental colour or retardation, permitted food cancer and other colour beyond safe toxic effect.

31

32 33 34 35 36

37

38

39

40

limit BHA and BHT beyond safe limit

Oils and fats

Allergy, liver damage, increase in serum chloresterol etc. Monosodium Chinese food, meat Brain damage, glutamate(flour) and meat products mental retardation (beyond safe limit) in infants Coumarin and Flavoured food Blood dihydro coumarin anticoagulant Food flavours Flavoured food Chances of liver beyond safe limit cancer Brominated Cold drinks Anemia, vegetable oils enlargement of heart Sulphur dioxide In variety of food as Acute irritation of and sulphite preservative the gastrobeyond safe limit intestinal tracts etc. Artificial Sweet foods Chances of cancer sweetners beyond safe limit Fungal contamination Aflatoxins Aspergillus flavus- Liver damage and contaminated foods cancer such as groundnuts, cottonseed, etc. Ergot alkaloids Ergot-infested Ergotism from Claviceps bajra, rye meal or (St.Anthony’s firepurpurea Toxic bread burning sensation alkaloids, in extremities, ergotamine, itching of skin, ergotoxin and peripheral ergometrine gangrene) groups Toxins from Grains (millet, Alimentary toxic

Fusarium sporotrichioides 41 42

Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichiella Toxins from

wheat, oats, rye,etc) Moist grains Yellow rice

Penicillium inslandicum

aleukia(ATA) (epidemic panmyelotoxicosis ) Urov disease (Kaschin-Beck disease) Toxic mouldy rice disease

Penicillium atricum, Penicillium citreovirede, Fusarium, Rhizopus, 43

Aspergillus Sterigmatocystin from

Foodgrains

Hepatitis

Aspergillus versicolour

44

45

Aspergillus nidulans and bipolaris Ascaris lumbricoides

Entamoeba histolytica

Any raw food or Ascariasis water contaminated by human faces containing eggs of the parasite Raw vegetables and Amoebic fruits dysentery

Viral 46

47

48

49 50 51

52

53

Virus of infectious Shell-fish, milk, unheated foods Hepatitis (virus A) contaminated with faeces, urine and blood of infected human Machupo virus Foods contaminated with rodents urine, such as cereals Natural Contamination Flouride Drinking water, sea foods, tea, etc.

Infectious hepatitis

Bolivian haemorrhagic fever

Excess fluoride causes fluorosis (mottling of teeth, skeletal and neurological disorders) Oxalic acid Spinach, amaranth, Renal calculi, etc. cramps, failure of blood to clot Gossypol Cottonseed flour Cancer and cake Cyanogenetic Bitter almonds, Gastro-intestinal compounds apple seeds, disturbances cassava, some beans etc. Polycyclic AromaticSmoked fish, meat, Cancer mineral oilHydrocarbons(PAH contaminated ) water, oils, fats and fish, especially shell-fish Phalloidine Toxic mushrooms Mushroom (Alkaloid) poisoning

54

55

56

57

58

(Hypoglycemia, convulsions, profuse watery stools, severe necrosis of liver leading to hepatic failure and death) Solanine Potatoes Solanine poisoning (vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea) Nitrates and Drinking water, Methaemoglobina Nitrites spinach rhubarb, emia especially in asparagus, etc. and infants, cancer meat products and tumours in the liver, kidney, trachea oesophagus and lungs. The liver is the initial site but afterwards tumours appear in other organs. Asbestos (may be Polished rice, Absorption in present in talc, pulses, processed particulate form Kaolin, etc. and in foods containing by the body may processed foods) anti-caking agents, produce cancer etc. Pesticide residues All types of food Acute or chronic (beyond safe limit) poisoning with damage to nerves and vital organs like liver, kidney, etc. Antibiotics Meats from Multiple drug (beyond safe limit) antibiotic-fed resistance animals hardening of arteries, heart

disease

TESTS TO DETECT ADULTERATION IN MILK There are many methods known for detection of adulteration in milk but the methods discussed below are simple but rapid and sensitive methods to detect adulteration. I. Detection of Neutralizers in milk 1) Rosalic acid test (Soda Test) In milk neutralizers like hydrated lime, sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate or sodium bicarbonate are added which are generally prohibited. How to detect? Take 5 ml of milk in a test tube and add 5 ml alcohol followed by 4-5 drops of rosalic acid. If the colour of milk changes to pinkish red, then it is inferred that the milk is adulterated with sodium carbonate / sodium bicarbonate and hence unfit for human consumption. This test will be effective only if the neutralizers are present in milk. If the added neutralizers are nullified by the developed acidity, then this test will be negative. In that case, the alkaline condition of the milk for the presence of soda ash has to be estimated. How to proceed? 2) Take 20 ml of milk in a silica crucible and then the water is evaporated and the contents are burnt in a muffle furnace. The ash is dispersed in 10 ml distilled water and it is titrated against decinormal (N/10) hydrochloric acid using phenolphthalein as an

indicator. If the titre value exceeds 1.2 ml, then it is construed that the milk is adulterated with neutralizers. II. Test for detection of hydrogen peroxide Take 5 ml milk in a test tube and then add 5 drops of paraphenylene diamine and shake it well. Change of the colour of milk to blue confirms that the milk is added with hydrogen peroxide. III. Test for detection of formalin Formalin (40%) is poisonous though it can preserve milk for a long time. How to detect? Take 10 ml of milk in test tube and 5 ml of conc. sulphuric acid is added on the sides of the test tube with out shaking. If a violet or blue ring appears at the intersection of the two layers, then it shows the presence of formalin. IV. Test for detection of sugar in milk Generally sugar is mixed in the milk to increase the solids not fat content of milk i.e. to increase the lactometer reading of milk, which was already diluted with water. How to detect? Take 10 ml of milk in a test tube and add 5 ml of hydrochloric acid along with 0.1 g of resorcinol. Then shake the test tube well and place the test tube in a boiling water bath for 5 min. Appearance of red colour indicates the presence of added sugar in milk. V. Test for detection of starch Addition of starch also increases the SNF content of milk. Apart from the starch, wheat flour, arrowroot, rice flour are also added.

How to detect? Take 3 ml milk in a test tube and boil it thoroughly. Then milk is cooled to room temperature and added with 2 to 3 drops of 1% iodine solution. Change of colour to blue indicates that the milk is adulterated with starch. VI. Test for detection of glucose Usually poor quality glucose is added to milk to increase the lactometer reading. There are two tests available to detect the adulteration of milk with glucose. How to proceed? 1. Phosphomolybdic or Barford Test Take 3 ml of milk in a test tube and add 3 ml Barford’s reagent and mix it thoroughly. Then keep it in a boiling water bath for 3 min and then cool it for 2 min by immersing in tap water with out disturbance. Then add 1 ml of phosphomolybdic acid and shake. If blue colour is visible, then glucose is present in the milk sample. 2. Diacetic test Take a strip of diacetic strip and dip it in the milk for 30 sec to 1 min. If the strip changes colour, then it shows that the sample of milk contains glucose. If there is no change in the colour of the strip, then glucose is absent. In this method the presence of glucose in milk can be quantified by comparing the colour developed with the chart strip. VII. Test for detection of urea 1. Urea is generally added in the preparation of synthetic milk to raise the SNF value. Five ml of milk is mixed well with 5 ml paradimethyl amino benzaldehyde (16%). If the solution turns yellow in colour, then the given sample of milk is added with urea.

2. Take 5 ml of milk in a test tube and add 0.2 ml of urease (20 mg / ml). Shake well at room temperature and then add 0.1 ml of bromothymol blue solution (0.5%). Appearance of blue colour after 10-15 min indicates the adulteration milk with urea. VIII. Test for detection of ammonium sulphate The presence of sulphate in milk increases the lactometer reading. How to proceed? 5 ml of hot milk is taken in a test tube and added with a suitable acid for e.g. citric acid and the whey thus separated is filtered. Collect the whey in another test tube and add 0.5 ml of 5% barium chloride. Appearance of precipitate indicates the presence of ammonium sulphate in milk. IX. Test for detection of salt Addition of salt in milk is mainly resorted to with the aim of increasing the corrected lactometer reading. How to detect? Five ml of silver nitrate (0.8%) is taken in a test tube and added with 2 to 3 drops of 1% potassium dichromate and 1 ml of milk and thoroughly mixed. If the contents of the test tube turn yellow in colour, then milk contains salt in it. If it is chocolate coloured, then the milk is free from salt. X. Test for detection of pulverized soap Take 10 ml of milk in a test tube and dilute it with equal quantity of hot water and then add 1 – 2 drops of phenolphthalein indicator. Development of pink colour indicates that the milk is adulterated with soap. XI. Detection of detergents in milk

Take 5 ml of milk in a test tube and add 0.1 ml of bromocresol purple solution. Appearance of violet colour indicates the presence of detergent in milk. Unadulterated milk samples show a faint violet colour. XII. Detection of water in milk Though the adulteration of milk with water can be checked by lactometer reading, other adulterations too affect the lactometer reading. Hence freezing point depression, recognized by AOAC, is usually adopted. Percentage of water added = Normal freezing point – Observed freezing point X 100 Normal freezing point Normal freezing point of milk is taken as –0.55°C. A tolerance level of 3% is given which is equivalent to specifying a minimum freezing point depression for authentic milk of –0.55°C. XIII. Detection of skim milk powder in milk If the addition of nitric acid drop by drop in to the test milk sample results in the development of orange colour, it indicates the milk is adulterated with skim milk powder. Samples with out skim milk powder shows yellow colour. XIV. Detection of vegetable fat in milk The characteristic feature of milk is its fatty acid composition, which mainly consists of short chain fatty acids such as butyric, caproic, caprylic acid; whereas the vegetable fats consist mainly of long chain fatty acids and hence adulteration of vegetable fat in milk can be easily found out by analyzing the fatty acid profile by gas chromatography. XV. Detection of buffalo milk in cow milk The presence of buffalo milk in cow milk is tested by Hansa test. It is based on immunological assay. One ml of milk is diluted with

4 ml of water and then it is treated with 1 ml of antiserum. The characteristic precipitation reaction indicates the presence of buffalo milk in the sample taken. (The antiserum is developed by injecting buffalo milk proteins into rabbits). XVI. Detection of benzoic and salicylic acid in milk Five ml of milk is taken in a test tube and acidified with concentrated sulphuric acid. 0.5% ferric chloride solution is added drop by drop and mixed well. Development of buff colour indicates presence of benzoic acid and violet colour indicates salicylic acid. XVII. Detection of borax and boric acid in milk Five ml of milk is taken in a test tube to which 1 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid is added and mixed well. Tip of a turmeric paper is dipped into the acidified milk and it is dried in a watch glass at 100°C or over a small flame. If the turmeric paper turns red, it indicates the presence of borax or boric acid. Confirmation can be made by adding a drop of ammonia solution on the turmeric paper and if the red colour changes to green, it shows the presence of boric acid.