G.D.

Goenka Public School

Investigatory Project
“Adulteration in Foods”
Submitted By: Guided By:
 Vansh Gupta Mrs. Garvita Sharma
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the presented dissertation
entitled study “Adulteration in Foods” has been
completed by Vansh Gupta student of “G.D.
Goenka Public School, Indore for Holiday
Homework 2020-21 under the guidance of Mrs.
Garvita Sharma
I wish them all success!!
Mrs. Jayshree Patel
Principal,

Internal Examiner

External Examiner

G.D. Goenka Public School,

Indore
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to the
people who have helped & supported me throughout
my project. I am grateful to my teacher Mrs.
Garvita Sharma for her continuous support for the
project, from initial advice & contacts in the early
stages of conceptual inception & through ongoing
advice & encouragement to this day.
I wish to thank my parents for their undivided
support and interest who inspired me and
encouraged me to go my own way, without whom I
would be unable to complete my project. At last but
not the least I want to thank my friends who
appreciated me for my work and motivated me and
finally to God who made all the things possible.

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 INDEX
Sr. No. Content Pg.
No.
1. Introduction 4-6
2. Some adulterants in food 7
3. Impact of adulterants 8
4. Different chemical tests 9-
A. Detection of starch in milk 9-10
B. Detection of yellow dye in 11-12
turmeric
C. Detection of vanaspati ghee 13-14
in desi ghee
D. Detection of washing soda, 15-16
chalk powder in sugar
5. Summary 17
6. Bibliography 18

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 INTRODUCTION
Adulteration in food is normally present in its most
crude form; prohibited substances are either added
or partly or wholly substituted. 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. It is equally
important for the consumer to know the common
adulterants and their effect on health. The
increasing number of food producers and the
outstanding amount of import foodstuffs enables the
producers to mislead and cheat consumers. To
differentiate those who take advantage of legal rules
from the ones who commit food adulteration is very
difficult. The consciousness of consumers would be
crucial. Ignorance and unfair market behavior may

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endanger consumer health and misleading can lead
to poisoning. So we need simple screening, tests for
their detection. In the past few decades, adulteration
of food has become one of the serious problems.
Consumption of adulterated food causes serious
diseases like cancer, diarrhea, asthma, ulcers, etc.
Majority of fats, oils and butter are paraffin wax,
castor oil and hydrocarbons. Red chilli powder is
mixed with brick powder and pepper is mixed with
dried papaya seeds. These adulterants can be easily
identified by simple chemical tests. Several agencies
have been set up by the Government of India to
remove adulterants from food stuffs. Selection of
wholesome and non-adulterated food is essential for
daily life to make sure that such foods do not cause
any health hazard. It is not possible to ensure
wholesome food only on visual examination when
the toxic contaminants are present in ppm level.
However, visual examination of the food before
purchase makes sure to ensure absence of insects,
visual fungus, foreign matters, etc. Therefore, due
care taken by the consumer at the time of purchase

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of food after thoroughly examining can be of great
help. Secondly, label declaration on packed food is
very important for knowing the ingredients and
nutritional value. It also helps in checking the
freshness of the food and the period of best before
use. The consumer should avoid taking food from an
unhygienic place and food being prepared under
unhygienic conditions. Such types of food may cause
various diseases. Consumption of cut fruits being
sold in unhygienic conditions should be avoided. It is
always better to buy certified food from reputed
shop.

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Some Adulterants in Food
Majority of adulterants used by the shopkeepers are
cheap substitutes easily available. For example,
adulterants in fats, oils and butter are paraffin wax,
castor oil and hydrocarbons. Read chili powder is
mixed with brick powder, turmeric powder is mixed
with yellow lead salts and pepper is mixed with
dried papaya seeds. Similarly sugar is contaminated
with washing soda and other insoluble substances,
milk is adulterated with starch, vanaspati ghee is
mixed with desi ghee etc. These types of adulterants
make food stuff inferior.

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 Impact of Adulterants
Every day we hear and watch live on television sets
how the food items are being adulterated and this
spurious, unhygienic and harmful food is entering
our houses. We have seen how milk and milk
products are being made from urea, soap and other
harmful chemicals. We all know that vegetables are
being given injections to make them grow faster and
overnight. We have also come across evidence as to
how the fruits are being ripened with the use of
harmful chemicals. Adulteration of food causes
several health problems in humans. Some of the
health hazards include stomach ache, body ache,
anemia, paralysis, and increase in the incidence of
tumors, pathological lesions in vital organs,
abnormalities of skin and eyes. Hence food
adulteration should be given great importance due
to its effect in the health significance of the public.
The people are suffering from heart disease, kidney
failure, skin diseases, asthma and other chronic
diseases.

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 Different Chemical Tests
A. Detection of starch in milk
Aim- Detection of starch in milk.
Materials used - Iodine solution or tincture of
iodine.
Theory-Along with water, a very common
adulterant of milk is starch. Milk consist of three
basic components which are water(about
80%0),fat(about 3.5%) and solids containing
protein, lactose and mineral matters(about
8.5%).Milk is adulterated with starch to maintain
the thickness of fat extracted milk or diluted milk.
The presence of starch can be detected by adding
iodine solution to milk.
Procedure- At first 5mL of milk ample is taken in a
test tube and is boiled for 3-4 minutes. Then it is
cooled and 1-2 drops of iodine solution is added to it
and is shake well.

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Observation Table-
Sr. No. Samples Observation Inference
1.
2.
3.

Detection- Appearance of blue color indicates the

presence of starch in the sample.
Precautions-
1. Handle all the chemicals carefully.
2. Do not mix the samples.
3. Clean the apparatus before the experiment.

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B. Detection of yellow dye in
turmeric
Aim- Detection of yellow dye in turmeric
Materials used- Concentrated HCL and 1%
biphenyl carbide in rectified spirit.
Theory- Turmeric (haladhi) powder is a popular
natural dye used in cooked food.The powder is often
adulterated with rice powder, beson, wheat powder
etc. To make the color bright, often lead chromate is
added which is a poisonous chemical.
Procedure- 1g of the turmeric powder sample is
taken in a test tube and 5ml of concentrated HCL is
added to it. The mixture is shaked thoroughly. Now
1ml of 1% biphenyl carbide reagent is added.
Observation Table-
Sr. No. Sample Observation Inference
1.
2.
3.

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Detection- Appearance of pink to red color indicates
the presence of lead chromate, PbCrO4, in the
sample.
Precautions-
1. Handle all the chemicals carefully.
2. Do not mix the samples.
3. Clean the apparatus before the experiment.

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C. Detection of vanaspati ghee in
desi ghee
Aim- Detection of vanaspati ghee in desi ghee.
Materials used- Concentrated HCL and 2% solution
of furfural in alcohol.
Theory- Desi ghee, which is a milk product, is much
costlier than vanaspati ghee. So, desi ghee is often
adulterated with vanaspati ghee. Vanaspati ghee
contains sesame oil, which is not present in desi
ghee. Sesame oil reacts with the mixture of conc.
HCL and furfural solution to produce rose red
color. This test is known as Baudoiun test.
Procedure- 5mL of melted ghee sample is taken in a
test tube.5mL of conc. HCL is added to it.Then 2-3
drops of 2% solution of furfural is added in alcohol.
The mixture is shaked the mixture and is allowed to
stand for about 10 minutes.

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Observation Table-
Sr. No. Sample Observation Inference
1.
2.

Detection- Appearance of rose red color indicates

the presence of vanaspati ghee in the ghee sample.
Precautions-
1. Handle all the chemicals carefully.
2. Do not mix the samples.
3. Clean the apparatus before the experiment.

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D. Detection of washing soda, chalk
powder in sugar
Aim- Detection of chalk powder, washing soda in
sugar.
Materials used- Dil. HCl
Theory- Chalk powder is a water insoluble substance
which is often used as a common adulterant in
sugar. Moreover sugar is usually contaminated with
washing soda.
Procedure- To a small amount of sugar taken in a
test tube, a few drops of dil. HCl is added and
observed.
Observation Table-
Sr. No. Sample Observation Inference
1.
2.

Detection- Brisk effervescence of CO2 shows the

presence of chalk powder or washing soda in the
given sample of sugar.
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Precautions-
1. Handle all the chemicals carefully.
2. Do not mix the samples.
3. Clean the apparatus before the experiment.

Summary
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I have studied different chemical reactions involving
in the process of detection of different adulterants in
different food items. These experiments were
performed for the purpose of detecting various
adulterants present is common food. The results
obtained during these experiments have been shown
in this project. The experiments have been
performed by common laboratory methods.

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 Bibliography
1. Comprehensive Practical Chemistry, Dr.
N.K.VERMA & Dr. B.K. VERMANI, Associate
professors, Chemistry Department, D.A.V.
College, Chandigarh.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adulterant

3. https://foodcontaminationjournal.biomedcentral

.com/articles/10.1186/s40550-016-0045-3
4. https://explorers.zizira.com/adulteration-in-

turmeric-powder-happens-can-you-avoid-it/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC

4121906/
6. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/os-

2/59/372.4
7. https://www.fssai.gov.in/

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Thank
You

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