Modern Middle East

International School,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Food
Adulterants
in Food Stuff

Chemistry Investigatory
Project (2021-2022)
 Food Adulterants in Food Stuff
Chemistry Investigatory Project
(Academic Year – 2021-2022)

Submitted by Teacher-in-Charge

Name: Humayun Ahmed Khan Mrs. Shoukeena Yoonus

Class: XII C PGT Chemistry
Reg. No: Modern Middle East
I. International School-
g Riyadh
Examiner:
 CERTIFICATE

I hereby certify that the

project work entitled
“Food Adulterants in Food
Stuff”
carried out to study and
investigate about the subject
matter, has been completed
solely and sincerely by
Humayun Ahmed Khan, with
Reg. No jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
In partial fulfillment of the
Chemistry Practical
Examinations - AISSCE (2021-
2022)

I certify that the project is

done by him under direct
supervision and guidance of
the Teacher as per the
requirement for the Board
Exam.

Head of Institution Teacher-in-charge

Mrs..Shabana.Parveen Mrs..Shoukeena.Yoonus
Principal PGT Chemistry
Modern Middle East Modern Middle east
International school- International School
Riyadh
 DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project work entitled
“Food Adulteration in Food Stuff”
is prepared by me after detailed investigation about
the subject matter and the related data
collection for the partial fulfillment of the Chemistry
Practical Examinations AISSCE (2021-2022)

Humayun Ahmed Khan

 Acknowledgement
The work described in the project has been
done with the guidance of my teachers.

I wish to thank Mrs. Shoukeena Yoonus, our

chemistry teacher for the guidance and
support for the fulfillment of the project.

I would like to extend my gratitude and vote

of thanks to Mrs. Shabana Parveen, our
principal and Mrs. Zainab
Jafri, our headmistress for their constant
encouragement and moral support.

I would like to thank Mrs. Tabassum Farooqi, our

academic director for her guidance and for providing a
very nice platform to learn.

I would also like to extend sincere thanks to Mrs. Remi

Majesh, our lab assistant for her constant support.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents,
colleagues and friends for their source of inspiration.
1. Objective
2. Introduction
3. Government Measures
4. Theory
5. Experiment I
6. Experiment II
7. Experiment II
8. Observations
9. Result
10. Precautions
11. Conclusion
12. Bibliography
 Objective

The Objective of this project is to study some of the

common food adulterants present in different food
stuffs.
 Introduction
Food is one of the basic necessities for sustenance of life.
Pure, fresh and healthy diet is most essential for the health of
the people. It is no wonder to say that community health is
national wealth. Adulteration of food-stuffs was so rampant,
widespread and persistent that nothing short of a somewhat
drastic remedy in the form of a comprehensive legislation
became the need of the hour. To check this kind of anti- social
evil a concerted and determined onslaught was launched by the
Government by introduction of the Prevention of Food
Adulteration Bill in the Parliament to herald an era of much
needed hope and relief for the consumers at large.

About the middle of the 19th century chemical and microscopal

knowledge had reached the stage that food substances could
be analyzed, and the subject of food adulteration began to be
studied from the standpoint of the rights and welfare of the
consumer. In 1860 the first food law framed in the interest of
the purchaser was passed. That law, lacking sufficient means
of enforcement, remained largely ineffective until 1872, when
administrative officials were appointed and penalties for
violation provided.
Laws existed in a number of States in India for the prevention
of adulteration of food- stuffs, but they lacked uniformity
having been passed at different times without mutual
consultation between States. The need for Central legislation
for the whole country in this matter has been felt since 1937
when a Committee appointed by the Central Advisory Board of
Health recommended this step.

‘Adulteration of food-stuffs and other goods’ is now included in

the Concurrent List (III) in the Constitution of India. It has,
therefore, become possible for the Central Government to
enact all India legislation on this subject. The Bill replaces all
local food adulteration laws where they exist and also applies
to those States where there are no local laws on the subject.
 GOVERNMENT MEASURES

To check the suppliers of food from doing so, the government

has passed a stringent act which is known as preservation of
food Adulteration Act. They have been implemented with the
objective of providing safety to human beings in the supply of
food. It covers safety from risks involved due to

contamination of poisonous elements. The specification laid

down of various foods under the provisions of PFA Act covers
minimum basic characteristics Of the Products Below which it
is deemed to be adulterated and also covers the maximum limit
of contaminant not considered being safe for human beings
beyond a certain level.
 THEORY
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
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, diarrhoea, 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.

AGMARK: Acronym for agricultural

marketing....this organization certifies
food products for their quality. Its
objective is to promote the Grading and
Standardization of agricultural and
allied commode.
\

EXPERIMENT I

Aim: To detect the presence of adulterants in fat, oil and

butter. Apparatus Required: Test-tube, conc. H2SO4, acetic
acid, conc. HNO3.

Procedure: Common adulterants present in ghee and oil are

dyes and argemone oil. These are detected as follows:

(i) Adulteration of dyes in fat: Heat 1mL of fat with a mixture

of 1mL of conc. Sulphuric Acid and 4mL of Acetic Acid.
Appearance of pink or red color indicates presence of dye in
fat.

(ii) Adulteration of argemone oil in edible oils: To small amount

of oil in a test-tube, add few drops of conc. HNO3 and shake it

well. Appearance of red color in the acid layer indicates

presence of argemone oil.
 EXPERIMENT II

Aim: To detect the presence of adulterants in sugar.

Apparatus Required: Test-tubes, dil. HCl.

Procedure: Sugar is usually contaminated with washing soda

and other insoluble substances which are detected as follows:

(i) Adulteration of various insoluble substances in 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 dissolve.

(ii) Adulteration of chalk powder, washing soda in sugar: To

small amount of sugar in a test-tube, add few drops of HCl.
Brisk effervescence of CO2 shows the presence of chalk
powder or washing soda in the given sample of sugar.
 EXPERIMENT III

Aim: To detect the presence of adulterants in samples of chili

powder, turmeric powder and pepper.

Apparatus Required: Test-tubes, conc. HCl, dil. HNO3, KI

solution.

Procedure: Common adulterants present in chili powder,

turmeric powder and pepper are red colored lead salts, yellow
lead salts and dried papaya seeds respectively. They are
detected as follows:

(i) Adulteration of red lead salts in chili powder: To a sample

of chili powder, add dil. HNO3. Filter the dil. solution and add 2

drops of Potassium Iodide solution to the filtrate. Yellow ppt.

indicates the presence of lead salts in chilli powder.

(ii) Adulteration of yellow lead salts to turmeric powder: To a

sample of turmeric powder add conc. HCl. Appearance of
magenta color shows the presence of yellow oxides of lead in
turmeric powder.
(iii) Adulteration of brick powder in red chili powder: Add small
amount of given red chili powder in beaker containing water.
Brick powder settles at the bottom while pure chili powder
floats over water.

(iv) Adulteration of dried papaya seeds in pepper: Add small

amount of sample of pepper to beaker containing water and
stir with a glass rod. Dried papaya seeds being lighter float
over water while pure pepper settles at the bottom.
 OBSERVATIONS

Sr Experiment Procedure Observation

No.
1. Adulteration of Heat 1mL of fat with a Appearance of pink
dyes in fat mixture of 1mL of colour.
conc. H2SO4 and 4mL
of acetic acid.
2. Adulteration of To small amount of oil No red colour
argemone oil in in a test tube, add observed
edible oils few drops of conc.
HNO3 & shake.
3. Adulteration of Adulteration of various Pure sugar dissolves in
various insoluble insoluble substances in water but insoluble
substances in sugar impurities do not
sugar dissolve.
4. Adulteration of To small amount of No brisk
chalk powder, sugar in a test tube, effervescence
washing soda in add a few drops of dil. observed.
sugar HCl
5. Adulteration of To sample of turmeric Appearance of
yellow lead salts powder, add conc. HCl. magenta colour
to turmeric
powder
 6. Adulteration of To a sample of chilli No yellow precipitate.
red lead salts in powder, add dil. HNO3.
chilli powder. Filter the solution and
add 2 drops of KI
solution to the
filtrate.
7. Adulteration of Add small amount of Brick powder settles
brick powder in given red chilli powder at the bottom while
chilli powder in a beaker containing pure chilli powder
water floats over water.
8. Adulteration of Add small amount of Dried papaya seeds
dried papaya sample of pepper to being lighter float
seeds in pepper beaker containing over water while pure
water and stir with a pepper settles at the
glass rod. bottom.

RESULT

The required analysis for adulterants in food stuffs has been

made.
 PRECAUTIONS

By taking a few precautions, we can escape from consuming

adulterated products.

1. Take only packed items of well-known companies.

2. Buy items from reliable retail shops and recognized
outlets.
3. Check the ISI mark or Agmark.
4. Buy products of only air tight popular brands.
5. Avoid craziness for artificially colored sweets and buy
only from reputed shops.
6. Do not buy sweets or snacks kept in open.
7. Avoid buying things from street side vendors.
 CONCLUSION

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 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 shops.
 Bibliography

https://www.slideshare.net/NIKHILDWIVEDI18/cbse-12th-chemistry-
investigatory-project

https://www.docsity.com/en/study-of-adulterant-in-food-stuff-investigatory-project/5591511/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322225094_Analysis_of_Food_Adulterants_in_Sel
ected_Food_Items_Purchased_From_Local_Grocery_Stores

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/food-adulteration

https://acasestudy.com/study-of-adulterants-in-food-stuff/