Food Adulteration Tests

In this post let me now explain that how we could clear the suspicion of food adulteration. Below are certain food items and how they have been adulterated. The home based detection tests are also mentioned. Small experiments at home could help us fight food adulteration.

Food Article	Adulterant	Home Based Testing
Bengal gram flour	Maiz flour	Rubbing with fingers and roughness indicates presence of maiz flour.
Black peeper	Dried seeds of papaya fruit	Papaya seeds are shrunken, oval in shape and greenish brown or brownish black in colour.
Chilli powder	Artificial colour/Brick powder	Take one tea spoon of chilli powder in a glass of water. If the water turns red, it shows the presence of artificial colour. A rough texture felt at the bottom of the glass with small sediments confirms the presence of brick powder or sand.
Cinnamon	Cassia bark	Cinnamon bark are very thin and can be rolled. Cassia barks are thick and stiff.
Coconut oil	Other oils	Pure coconut oil will freeze when kept in the refrigerator. If adulterated, the oil will not freeze.
Coffe	Chicory	Gently sprinkle the coffee powder on the surface of water in a glass. The coffee floats over the water but chicory begins to sink down within few seconds. The falling chicory powder particles leave behind them a trail of colour, due to large amounts of caramel which they contain.
Cumin seeds	Grass seeds coloured with charcoal dust	Rub the cumin seeds on palms. If the palms turn black, adulteration is indicated.
Dal (Whole and split)	Kesari dal	Kesari dal has edged type appearance showing a slant on one side and a square in appearance as compared to other dals
	Clay, stones, gravels, web, rodents, hair and excreta	Visual examination will detect the adulterants.
Green peas	Colour dye	Take a handful of green peas and immerse it in water for half an hour. Stir it. If the water turns green, dye has been used to colour the peas.
Honey	Water	A cotton wick dipped in pure honey burns when ignited with a matchsticks. If adulterated, presence of water will not allow honey to burn. If it does it will produce a cracking sound.
Ice cream	Washing powder	Put some lemon juice on the ice creacm. If bubbles are formed, it confirms the presence of washing powder.
Milk	Water	Put a drop of milk on a polished vertical surface. The drop of pure milk either stops or flows slowly leaving a white trail. If the milk flows quickly, then water is mixed.
Mustard seeds	Argemone seeds	Argemone seeds have a rough surface. Mustard seeds on pressing are yellow inside while argemone are white.
Saffron	Dyed tendrils of maize cob	Genuine saffron will not break very easily like artificial one. The colour dissolves in water if artificially coloured. Pure saffron when allowed to dissolve in water will continue to give its saffron colour as long as it lasts.
Silver foil	Aluminium foil	On ignition genuine silver foil will burn away completely leaving glistening white spherical ball of the same mass; while aluminium foil is reduced to ashes of black grey coluor.
Sugar	Chalk	Dissolve sugar into a glass of water. Chalk will settle down at the bottom, similar test can be done for salt.
Wheat, bajra and other food grains	Ergot (a fungus containing a poisonous substance)	A – Purple black longer size grains in bajra show the presence of ergot.
		B – Put some grains in a glass containing salt solution. Ergot floats over the surface while grains will settle down.
	Dhatura seeds	Dhatura seeds resemble chilli seeds with blackish brown colour which can be separated by close examination.