Adulterants

APEEJAY
SCHOOL
SALTLAKE
(Affiliated to CBSE curriculum)
INVESTIGATORY PROJECT ON
“ Study of adulterants in food stuffs ”
Submitted by: -
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that student of XII
Science worked on project titled- “Study of adulterants
in food stuffs” under my guidance. It is an original
project and is result of his efforts and endeavours.
The project has been conducted during the academic
year 2019-2020 for the evaluation in the Chemistry
Practical Exam of AISSC.
DATE :-
Subject Teacher (Signature):-
External Examiner (Signature):-

DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project work submitted for
the subject of Chemistry under the guidance of Ms.
Karabi Sen is a record of original work done by me.
NAME :-
CONTENTS
Sr.no Title Page no.

1 Introduction 5
2 Objective 5
3 Experiment 1 6-7
4 Experiment 2 8-9
5 Experiment 3 10-13
6 Conclusion 14
7 Acknowledgement 15
8 Bibliography 16
Introduction
Recently, food adulteration has become one of

the most serious problems. Consumption of
adulterated food causes serious diseases like
cancer, diarrhoea, asthma, ulcers, etc. Majority
of the adulterants used by shopkeepers are
cheap substitutes which are easily available like
paraffin wax, castor oil and hydrocarbons in fats,
oils and butter. Red chilli powder is often mixed
with brick powder and dried papaya seeds.
These adulterants can be easily identified by
simple chemical tests.
Objective
The aim of this project is to study some of the
common food adulterants present in different
food stuffs.
Experiment 1
Aim :
To detect the presence of adulterants in fat, oil and butter.
Requirements :
Test tubes, conc. HCl, acetic anhydride, conc. H2SO4,
acetic acid and conc. HNO3.
Procedure :
Common adulterants present in ghee and oil are paraffin
wax, hydrocarbons dyes and argemone oil. These are
detected as follows:
Experiment Observation Inference

Adulteration of Droplets of oil do not The sample is pure.
paraffin wax and appear.
hydrocarbons in
vegetable ghee :
Heat small amount of
vegetable ghee with
acetic anhydride.
Small droplets of oil
floating on the
surface of unused
acetic anhydride
indicate the presence
of wax or
hydrocarbons.
Adulteration of No colour appears in The sample is pure.
dyes in fat : solution.
Heat 1 ml of fat with a

mixture of 1 ml of
conc. sulphuric acid
and 4 ml of acetic
acid.
Appearance of pink or
red colour indicates
the presence of wax
or hydrocarbons.
Adulteration of No colour appears in The sample is pure.
argemone oil in acid layer.
edible oils :
To small amount of
fat in a test tube and
add few drops of
conc.HNO3 and
shake.
Appearance of red
colour in acid layer
indicates the
presence of
argemone oil.
Thus we can say that our sample is unadulterated.

Experiment 2
Aim :
To detect the presence of adulterants in sugar.
Requirements :
Test tubes, dil. HCl, alcoholic solution of α-naphthol and
conc. H2SO4.
Procedure :
Common adulterants present in sugar are washing soda
and other insoluble substances. These are detected as
follows:

Adulteration of Additional The sample is pure.
various insoluble impurities are not
substances in found.
sugar :
Take small
amount of sugar in
a test tube, and
shake it with little
water.
Pure sugar
dissolves in water
but insoluble
impurities do not.
Adulteration of No effervescence The sample is pure.
chalk and is evolved.
washing soda in
sugar :
To small amount
of sugar in a test
tube, add a few
drops of dil. HCl.
Brisk
effervescence of
CO2 shows the
presence of chalk
powder or
washing soda in
given sample of
sugar.
Thus we can say that our sample is unadulterated.

Experiment 3
Aim :
To detect the presence of adulterants in samples of
chilli powder, turmeric powder and pepper.
Requirements :
Test tubes, conc. HCl, KI solution and dil. HNO3.
Procedure :
Common adulterants present in chilli powder, turmeric
powder and pepper are red coloured lead salts, yellow
lead salts and dried papaya seeds. These are detected as
follows:

Adulteration No ppt. appears in solution. The sample
of red lead is pure.
salts in chilli
powder :
To a small
amount of
chilli powder
in a test tube,
add a few
drops of dil.
HNO3. Filter
the solution
and add 2
drops of KI
solution to
the filtrate.
Appearance
of yellow ppt.
indicates the
presence of
lead salts in
chilli powder.
Adulteration Brick powder are not found. The sample
of brick is pure.
powder in
red chilli
powder :
Add a small
amount of
chilli powder
in a beaker
filled with
water.
Brick powder
settles down
and pure chilli
powder floats
on top.
Adulteration No ppt. is found. The sample
is impure.
of yellow
lead salts in
turmeric
powder :
To a sample
of chilli
powder add
conc. HCl.
Appearance
of magenta
ppt. indicates
the presence
of yellow lead
oxides in
turmeric
powder.
Adulteration Dried papaya seeds are not The sample
of dried found. is pure.
papaya seeds
in pepper :
Add a small
amount of
sample of
pepper in a
beaker filled
with water
and stir it with
a glass rod.
Dried papaya
seeds floats
on top and
pure chilli
powder
settles down.
Thus we can say that our sample is adulterated.

Conclusion
1) Selection of wholesome and non-adulterated foods
is essential for the daily surety of prevention of health
hazards.
2) It is nearly impossible to ensure wholesome foods
on visual examination only, when the toxic
components are present in ppm level. However visual
examination before purchase makes sure of absence
of visual fungi, insects and other harmful foreign
substances. Therefore due care should be taken by
consumer before buying food and food products.
3) Label declaration on packed food is very important
for knowing the ingredients and nutritional value. It
also helps in checking the freshness of food and the
period of best before use.
4) The consumer should avoid taking food from a
unhygienic source and food being prepared under
unhygienic conditions since such food may cause
various types of diseases.
5) Consumption of cut fruits being sold in unhygienic
conditions should be specially avoided.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I am immensely indebted to almighty god for

his blessings and grace without which I could not have
undertaken this task and my efforts would never have
been a success. I humbly consider a privilege and honor
to express my heartiest and profound gratitude to
Ma’am Rita Chatterjee , Principal Apeejay School, Salt
Lake for her appropriate direction, valuable suggestion,
under judging assistance so generously extended to me.
I wish to express my deepest feelings of gratitude to
Karabi Mam, Chemistry department for her erudite
involvement and sustained guidance which has been
pivotal in my project work. Her minute observation,
precious insights, critical comments have indeed greatly
helped to shape my ideas. The guidance and support
received from my classmates who contributed and who
are contributing to this project, is vital for the success of
this project. I am grateful for their constant support and
help. I also owe a sense of gratitude to my parents for
encouragement and support throughout the project.
Bibliography
I would like to declare the array of
references hereby and submit those I took
help from :-
1) Comprehensive Chemistry Practical
A textbook for Chemistry practical
experiments.
ISBN : 978-81-313-0386-5
2) Wikipedia.com
The Online Encyclopedia indexing world’s
best articles with genuine
references.
3) TCYonline.com
An online video tutorial and educational
Centre.
4) http://projects.icbse.com/forums
Online portal for CBSE projects.

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APEEJAY

Subject Teacher (Signature):-

External Examiner (Signature):-

Sr.no Title Page no.

Recently, food adulteration has become one of

Experiment Observation Inference

Heat 1 ml of fat with a

Thus we can say that our sample is unadulterated.

Experiment Observation Inference

Thus we can say that our sample is unadulterated.

Experiment Observation Inference

Thus we can say that our sample is adulterated.

First of all, I am immensely indebted to almighty god for

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