CHEMISTRY INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

FOOD ADULTRATION

Name : ASHLEY JENIFER F.J

Class : XII – A
Roll no : 12126

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to thank God, who has always been
my guidance and support all these years. I express my
heartfelt gratitude to our principal Rev.Bro.Robert
I would like to thank my Chemistry Teacher,
Mrs. Lovelin Philip, for giving me the opportunity to work
on this assignment and for believing in me. I would also like
to thank my classmates who have extended their moral
support throughout the course of this assignment. All of
them were ever ready to clear my doubts and help me with
all the necessary information and equipment.
My parents never ceased to believe in me. I thank them for
encouraging me, guiding me and being there to strengthen
me with confidence every time I felt weak or discouraged. I
would also like to express my gratitude to all those who
played a role directly and indirectly in the completion of this
assignment.

- ASHLEY JENIFER F.J

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 INDEX
 INTRODUCTION
 THEORY
 TYPES OF ADULTRATION
 PROCEDURE FOR DETECTION
 HAZARDOUS EFFECTS
 EXPERIMENTS
 RESULTS
 CONCLUSION
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 INTRODUCTION
Food Adulteration can be defined as the practice of adulterating
food or contamination of food materials by adding a few substances,
which are collectively called adulterants.

Adulterants are the substance or poor quality products added to

food items for economic and technical benefits. Addition of these
adulterants reduces the value of nutrients in food and also
contaminates the food, which is not fit for consumption. These
adulterants can be available in all food products which we consume
daily, including dairy products, cereals, pulses, grains, meat,
vegetables, fruits, oils, beverages, etc.

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 :

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.

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 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 behaviour may endanger consumer health and misleading
can lead to poisoning. So, we need simple screening tests for their
detection.

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 commodities.

 FSSAI – Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous
body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
Government of India. The FSSAI has been established under the Food
Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to
food safety and regulation in India.

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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.

Food adulteration can lead to slow poisoning and various kinds of

diseases, which can even result in death. Adulteration makes the
food items used in our daily life unsafe and unhygienic for use. An
easy example of food adulteration is vanaspati ghee in desi ghee.

The traders use it for their economic benefit without thinking about its
effect on the common population of our country, which consumes it.
For preventing it our government has made some certain
commissions and laws. Still it prevails in our country on large scale.

Project Report Adulteration in Food Items: Adulteration should be

checked properly in common food items to save people from its bad
effects. Adulteration is the government and we for the common
people therefore something should do a type of curse against it.

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 TYPES OF FOOD ADULTERATION
In India, the most common type of food adulterations is of following
types:

1. Milk : It is adulterated by the addition of water, starch, skim

milk powder and removal of cream.

2. Ghee : It is adulterated with vanaspati and animal fats

such as pig's fat. In order to improve the flavor of
adulterated ghee tributyrin is added.

3. Cereals : Rice and wheat are mixed with stones sand grit
and mud to increase the bulk.

4. Flour : Wheat flour is mixed with soapstone and Bengal

gram flour is adulterated with Kesari dal or lathyrus flour.

5. Pulses : They are adulterated with Kesari Dal stones are

added to pulses such as mott urad, and masoor. Toxic
chemical such as metanil yellow are added to old stocks of
pulses to improve their colour appearance.

6. Edible Oil : They are mixed with cheaper oil, toxic oil
(e.g. argemone oil) and mineral oil.

7. Honey : It is adulterated with sugar and jaggery.

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 PROCEDURE FOR DETECTING THE
ADULTERATION IN THE FOOD ITEMS
Adulteration in the food material can be detected in the
following ways :

1. Vanaspati in Ghee : Took one tea spoon full of liquid ghee.

Added equal quantity of conc. HCl shook this mixture in a test
tube. Now added a pinch of common sugar. Shook it well for
about one minute and then allowed it to stand for 5 minute
and observed the result.

2. Water in milk sample : Put a drop of sample milk on a plain

slide. Title the slide and observed the result.

3. Argemone oil in edible oil : Took some amount of edible oil in

a test tube. Poured 3-4 drops of concentrated nitric acid.
Shook it well and observed the result.

4. Metanil yellow in dal : Took 5 grams of sample. Add 5ml of

water and a few drops of dil. HCl and observed the result.

5. Black Pepper : Add some amount of black pepper to a glass

of water. Pure black pepper settles at the bottom. In the
adulterated black pepper, papaya seeds float on the surface
of water

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HAZARDOUS EFFECTS OF ADULTERANTS

S.NO FOOD ARTICLES ADULTERANTS DISEASES

CAUSED
1. Yellow Dal Metanil Yellow Paralysis, Liver
Damage

2. Black Pepper Dried Seeds of Cancer, Liver

Papaya Damage

3. Butter/Pure Ghee Starch, Animal Fat Stomach Irritation

4. Cereals- Wheat White Mud Stomach Disorder

and Rice

5. Milk Water + Starch Stomach Disorder

6. Turmeric Metanil Yellow + Anaemia, Paralysis,

Starch, Lead Brain Damage
Chromate
7. Honey Jaggery and Stomach Disorder,
Sugar Bad for Diabetics

8. Coriander Powder Horse Dung Stomach Disorder

9. Mustard Seeds Argemone Seeds Dropsy

10. Saffron Dried Tendrils Cancer

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EXPERIMENT 1 :
Aim : To detect the presence of adulterants in fat, oil and butter.

Requirements : Test-tube, acetic anhydride, conc. H2SO4, acetic acid,

conc. HNO3.

Procedure : Common adulterants present in ghee and oil are

paraffin wax, hydrocarbons, dyes and argemone oil. These are
detected as follows :

1. Adulteration of paraffin wax and hydrocarbon in vegetable

ghee Heat small amount of vegetable ghee with acetic
anhydride. Droplets of oil floating on the surface of unused
acetic anhydride indicates the presence of wax or
hydrocarbons.
2. 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 colour indicates presence of dye
in fat.
3. Adulteration of argemone oil in edible oils to small amount of
oil in a test-tube, add few drops of conc. HNO3 and shake.
Appearance of red colour in the acid layer indicates
presence of argemone oil.

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EXPERIMENT 2 :
Aim : To detect the presence of adulterants in sugar

Requirements : Test-tubes, dil. HCl

Procedure : Sugar is usually contaminated with washing soda and

other insoluble substances which are detected as follows:

1. 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.
2. Adulteration of chalk powder, washing soda in sugar to small
amount of sugar in a test-tube, add few drops of dil. HCl. Brisk
effervescence of CO2 shows the presence of chalk powder or
washing soda in the given sample of sugar.

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EXPERIMENT 3 :
Aim : To detect the presence of adulterants in samples of chilli powder,
turmeric powder and pepper

Requirements : Test-tubes, conc. HCl, dil. HNO3, KI solution

Procedure : Common adulterants present in chilli powder, turmeric

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

1. Adulteration of red lead salts in chilli powder to a sample of

chilli powder, add dil. HNO3. Filter the solution and add 2
drops of potassium iodide solution to the filtrate. Yellow ppt.
indicates the presence of lead salts in chilli powder.
2. Adulteration of yellow lead salts to turmeric powder to a
sample of turmeric powder add conc. HCl. Appearance of
magenta colour shows the presence of yellow oxides of lead
in turmeric powder.
3. Adulteration of brick powder in red chilli powder Add small
amount of given red chilli powder in beaker containing water.
Brick powder settles at the bottom while pure chilli powder
floats over water.
4. Adulteration of dried papaya seeds in pepper Add small
amount of sample of pepper to a beaker containing water

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 and stir with a glass rod. Dried papaya seeds being lighter
float over water while pure pepper settles at the bottom.

RESULT
EXPT. NO. EXPERIMENT PROCEDURE OBSERVATION
1. Adulteration of Heat small amount of Appearance of oil
paraffin wax and vegetable ghee with acetic floating on the surface.
hydrocarbon in anhydride. Droplets of oil
vegetable ghee floating on the surface of
unused acetic anhydride
indicate the presence of wax
or hydrocarbon.
2. Adulteration of Heat 1mL of fat with a mixture Appearance of pink
dyes in fat of 1mL of conc. H2SO4 and colour
4mL of acetic acid
3. Adulteration of To small amount of oil in a No red colour observed
argemone oil in test tube, add few drops of
edible oils conc. HNO3 & shake
4. Adulteration of Take small amount of sugar Pure sugar dissolves in
various insoluble in a test tube and shake it water but insoluble
substances in with little water. impurities do not
sugar dissolve.
5. Adulteration of To small amount of sugar in No brisk effervescence
chalk powder, a test tube, add a few drops observed
washing soda in of dil. HCl.
sugar
6. Adulteration of To sample of turmeric Appearance of
yellow lead salts to powder, add conc. HCl magenta colour
turmeric powder
7. Adulteration of red To a sample of chilli powder, No yellow ppt
lead salts in chilli add dil. HNO3. Filter the
powder solution and add 2 drops of
KI solution to the filtrate

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8. Adulteration of Add small amount of given Brick powder settles at
brick powder in red chilli powder in a beaker the bottom while pure
chilli powder containing water chilli powder floats over
water
9. Adulteration of Add small amount of sample Dried papaya seeds
dried papaya of pepper to beaker being lighter float over
seeds in pepper containing water and stir water while pure
with a glass rod pepper settles at the
bottom

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 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 shop.

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BIBLIOGRPHY

- https//techiescientist.com

- www.wikipedia.com

- https//technotes.alconox.com

- https//www.preclaboratories.com

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