Food Adulteration: Definition, Acts, Prevention and Examples

Food Adulterant is any material that is added to food with the intention of lowering the quality while increasing the amount. Foreign, poor, and usually substandard chemical compounds that are toxic or undesirable in food are referred to as food adulterants. Adulterants may be added purposefully or unintentionally.

However, small amounts of non-nutritive components are purposefully added to foods to improve their flavor, texture, or ability to store. Intentionally including these food adulterants serves primarily to boost profits at the expense of consumers or general health.

Table of Contents:

• What is Food Adulteration?
• Examples of Food Adulteration and their Harmful Effects
• Adulteration of Food in India
• Food Adulteration Act
• Reasons for Food Adulteration
• Types of Food Adulteration
• Methods of Food Adulteration
• Impacts of Food Adulteration
• How can Food Adulteration be Prevented?
• How to detect Food Adulteration?
• FAQS on Food Adulteration

What is Food Adulteration?

The process of adding an adulterant to a food product is known as Food Adulteration. Foreign, poor, and usually substandard chemical compounds that are toxic or undesirable in food are referred to as food adulterants.

Water, salt, sugar, and spice additions are the most typical food adulterants. In addition, colors, preservatives, and stabilizers are frequently used as adulterants. Animal or plant items like milk, eggs, oil, or flour can potentially be adulterants.

Examples of Food Adulteration and their Harmful Effects

Following is a list of some common food adulterants with their harmful effects:

Food	Adulterants	Health Hazards
Milk	Water, Chalk, Urea, Caustic Soda, Hydrogen Peroxide	Food Poisoning, Vomiting, Nausea, and Heart Problems.
Khoya	Paper, Refined oil, Skimmed Milk Powder	Nausea, Vomiting, Food Poisoning.
Tea/Coffee	Same colored leaves, Tamarind seeds, Mustard Seeds	Liver infection, Diarrhoea.
Wheat and other food grains	Dust, Pebbles, Stones, Straw, Weed seeds.	Liver disorders, Toxicity in the body
Fruits and Vegetables	Malachite green, oxytocin saccharin, wax, calcium carbide, and copper sulfate.	Stomach disorders, Vomiting.
Sweets	Silver bark, Starch	Food Poisoning, Vomiting, Nausea.
Honey	Molasses sugar	Blood disorders, Liver infection.
Daal (Arhar Daal)	Metanil Yellow	Neurotoxicity, Adult brain development disorders
Spices a) Asafoetida b) Black Pepper c) Red Chilli powder d) Turmeric e) Saffron	a) Soapstone b) Papaya Seeds, Blackberries c) Brick powder, salt powder, talc powder, and artificial colors. d) Metanil yellow and red oxide of lead e) Colored dried tendrils of maize cob.	Severe allergic reactions including stomach and skin irritations, Cancer, and Stomach disorders.
Butter and Icecream	Palm oil, sunflower oil, and soybean oil.	Lung, Kidney, and Heart Disorders.

Adulteration of Food in India

One of the major issues in Indian society is food adulteration. The issue still poses a significant concern for the nation despite numerous interventions and sanctions. Food adulteration cases have been steadily rising, according to the FSSAI. In 2018–19, 1,06,459 food samples were evaluated by National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories, which discovered 30,415 non–conforming samples. Of these, 3900 samples were deemed hazardous, 16,870 were subpar, and the remaining samples had labeling issues. The largest percentage of contaminated samples (45) was found in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu, according to the research. Additionally, Daman and Diu had the fewest contaminated sample percentages (2.7). Out of the 2461 samples that were obtained, 485 were contaminated in the National Capital.

Food Adulteration Act

The Food Adulteration Committee received approval from the Indian government in 1943. The committee investigated and analyzed the issue of food adulteration and consequently recommended for national legislation. So, in 1954, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) was eventually put into effect. On June 15th, 1955, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, which covers the whole country of India, went into effect.

The act considers an item to be adulterated or defines adulteration occurring if: the vendor’s product doesn’t live up to the customer’s expectations or the standards it claims to meet, the product has any component that degrades the article’s quality, the product was created or stored in an unclean manner, any component of the product such as putrid, decayed, or rotten plant or animal materials—is unfit for human consumption, a component of the item came from an infected animal, any harmful or dangerous materials are present in the piece, the product’s container is made of any harmful materials, any coloring agent—aside from those listed—is added to the article, there are any forbidden preservatives in the article or if there are more preservatives than allowed, the article’s quality and purity do not match the requirements set by the committee.

Reasons for Food Adulteration

Food adulteration has been a widespread occurrence for ages due to the involvement of various prevalent causes:

1. Dishonest traders have always been driven to the perishable, heterogeneous, and mass production of some foods. Stock limitations and market price pressure also motivate them to engage in purposeful adulteration.
2. Due to their high nutritional content and widespread popularity, some food items have been particularly vulnerable to adulteration.
3. Foods with a small profit margin have also frequently been included on lists of adulteration.
4. Drinks and other liquid meals have attracted particular interest due to their diverse chemical composition, prolonged shelf life, and high production costs.
5. Rise in food demand due to a population that is expanding quickly and a lack of government measures and effective food laws.
6. Lack of public understanding and awareness of proper food consumption.
7. To make food aesthetically pleasing and a replica of popular cuisines, food is adulterated.

Types of Food Adulteration

Food Adulteration can be of the following types:

• Intentional Adulteration: It is when adulterants are purposefully added to food to make it heavier and more profitable. For instance, combining stone, sand, chalk powder, etc.
• Accidental Adulteration: Occurs when handling food carelessly. For instance, pesticide residues in cereals.
• Metallic Adulteration: Adulteration with metallic materials, such as lead from water or mercury from effluents, can occur accidentally or on purpose.
• Packaging Hazards: Materials used for packaging can also affect and combine food ingredients.

Methods of Food Adulteration

Food adulteration can be done in many different ways. Here are some of the most popular techniques:

• Increasing the amount of the food product by adding water.
• Including less expensive materials, such as starch, to boost the manufacturer’s earnings.
• Making the food item more enticing to consumers by adding preservatives, colorings, or flavors.
• Increasing the sweetness of a food product by adding sugar or other sweets
• Including additives that enhance the food product’s look, such as chalk or sawdust.

Impacts of Food Adulteration

Food adulteration has several health impacts. They can have both short- and long-term effects and can have an impact on both people and animals.

• Immediate Impacts: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, headache, allergic responses.
• Long-Term Impacts: Cancer, heart condition, kidney illness, liver illness. Animals and humans both experience reproductive issues as a result of tainted food.

How can Food Adulteration be Prevented?

Food Adulteration can be prevented by the following:

1. Precautions to make when moving and storing food products: For grains, legumes, and spices, insect infestation caused by the warehouse’s humid and unsanitary environment is a serious threat. To overcome this issue, experts should keep a tight eye on the storage conditions and make sure that infected grains from the fields don’t enter the warehouse and endanger good grains.
2. Procedures to follow while processing food products: According to various Food Safety Standards and Regulations, outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter should be avoided. The placement of the facility should be planned to stay away from polluted and pest “hot spots”. The design of the machinery must meet the sanitizing and cleaning regulations. Prioritizing proper waste disposal should be done to reduce the danger of contamination. The correct benchmarking of personal and environmental cleanliness is necessary.
3. Precautions to take when packaging food products: Packaging should be resistant to microbiological and chemical contamination. Hazardous materials should not be present in the ink used on the packaging. To prevent product recalls, food items should be properly labeled with allergen information. The top priorities should be maintaining good industrial facilities and staff cleanliness. Regulations governing food packaging should be appropriately applied.

How to Detect Food Adulteration?

Under the name Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test (DART) in various food goods, FSSAI has validated numerous common rapid tests, including physical, chemical, and sensory adulteration done manually at home.

1. Milk and Milk-Related Products: When milk and water are shaken, lather forms, indicating the presence of detergent. Starch can be detected by boiling a sample of milk product with water and adding iodine; the presence of starch is indicated by the product becoming blue.
2. Oil and Fats: Place coconut oil in a glass and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. If the oil separates into a layer, it is adulterated; however, if the oil solidifies, it is coconut oil. When a small bit of yellow butter is added to a sample of oil, the resultant bright red color immediately shows the presence of tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (TOCP).
3. Sugar and Sweets: If honey dispenses when dropped into water, then sugar has been added. Take a sample of sugar; if you add chalk, the sample will sink to the bottom of the transparent glass of water.
4. Food grains and their Byproducts: Visual detection of extraneous material, khesari dal, excess bran, and Dhatura can be accomplished by thorough inspection in accordance with their appearance. Food grains should be added to the water after they have lost their color. Rice will become crimson when you add a teaspoon of soaking lime.
5. Vegetables and Fruits: Take a cotton piece and soak it in water. When you brush it over the outside of veggies, the malachite green in the vegetables turns the cotton green. Put a cotton ball in the water, rub it on the outside of the sweet potato, and if the cotton picks up color, use rhodamine B to color the outside.

FAQs on Food Adulteration

1. Define Food Adulteration? Give examples.

Answer:

Any material added to food with the intention of lowering the quality while increasing the amount is considered an adulterant. The process of adding an adulterant to a food product is known as Food Adulteration. Some examples of food adulteration include Brie cheese contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and apple cider contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

2. What are common Food Adulterants?

Answer:

Any material added to food with the intention of lowering the quality while increasing the amount is considered an adulterant. Water, salt, sugar, and spice additions are the most typical food adulterants. In addition, colors, preservatives, and stabilizers are frequently used as adulterants.

3. What are the effects of Food Adulteration?

Answer:

Food adulteration has several health impacts. They can have both short- and long-term effects and can have an impact on both people and animals. Immediate Impacts: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, headache, allergic responses. Long-Term Impacts: Cancer, heart condition, kidney illness, liver illness. Animals and humans both experience reproductive issues as a result of adulterated food.

4. What causes Food Adulteration?

Answer:

A rise in food demand due to a population that is expanding quickly is the primary cause of food adulteration. Also, lack of public understanding and awareness of proper food consumption to make food aesthetically pleasing and a replica of popular cuisine are another causes of food adulteration.

5. What is Adulteration in Milk?

Answer:

Milk adulteration is the deliberate degradation of milk quality by the addition of subpar ingredients or the removal of important ingredients. It’s done to boost milk production and earn money illegally.