Oxford Public School

Food Adulteration

By : Arnav Makkar Submitted to:

th
Class: 12 (C) Mr.Yogendra Singh
(Chemistry)
Contents
1. Certificate

2. Acknowledgement
3.Objective

4.Introduction
5.Theory
6.Experimental Work
*Aim
*Apparatus required
*Procedure
*Observations

*Result & precautions

*Conclusion

7.Bibliography
 Certificate

This is to certify that Arnav Makkar , a

bonafide student of class 12th (C) has
satisfactorily completed his investigatory
project titled as FOOD ADULTERATION
as prescribed by the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE)
during the academic year 2019-2020.

Mr.Yogendra Singh Ms.Sangeeta Matto

(chemistry) (principal)
Acknowledgement
I Would like to express my special thanks of
gratitude to my teacher Mr. Yogendra Singh
(Chemistry) as well as our principal Ms.
Sangeeta Matto who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the
topic Food Adulteration which also helped me in
doing a lot of Research and I came to know about
so many new things and I am really thankful to
them.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents
and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this
project within the limited time frame

Arnav Makkar
Class:12 (C)
th
 Objective
The Objective of this project is to
study some of the common food
adulterants present in different
food stuffs.
 INTRODUCTION
Adulteration is the act of intentionally debasing the
quality of food offered for sale either by mixture
or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal
of some valuable ingredient. In past few decades
adulteration of food has become one of the most serious
problems.
Consumption of adulterated food causes diseases like
cancer, asthma, ulcer, etc. Majority of adulterants
used by the shopkeepers are cheap substitutes which are
easily available.
In order to prevent adulteration of food products
by dishonest traders, the government has issued ‘The
Prevention of Food Adulteration Act’.
The Bureau of Indian Standards is the agency in India
that provides
the certificate of reliability to food manufacturers in
India.
THEORY
We are very fortunate to be born a country which is
blessed with rich soil, diversified climate, many rivers
and the great Himalayas where almost all varieties of
fruits, vegetables and cereals, etc. can be grown. In
ancient times, the land was in abundance, the supply of
food was more than the demand and people used fresh
food materials in most natural form. The population
spurt in our country has given rise to unemployment
and poverty.
The demand for food has increased & our country has to
import food grains, oil etc. from other countries. This
shorta ge of food and ignorance of consumers is the main
cause for adulteration of foodstuffs by the unscrupulous
traders. It has become so common that the consumers
have to run from pillars to pillars to get a foodstuff which
is not adulterated. The consumers are not aware of
hazards of adulteration and pay heavily for consuming
adulterated food. If the consumer knows the ways and
means to check the commodities of daily use, they can
save themselves and their families from this mind-
boggling problem.

TITLE:
STUDY OF COMMON
FOOD
ADULTERANTS IN
FOOD-STUFFS
SOME OF THE COMMON
FOOD ADULTERANTS IN
FOOD ITEMS ARE:
FOOD ITEMS ADULTERANTS

Desi ghee & Butter Vanaspati ghee

Vegetable ghee Paraffin wax

Mustard oil Argemone oil

Sugar Chalk powder, washing powder

Chilli Red lead, Brick powder

Turmeric powder Yellow salts of lead, yellow chalk powder

 EXPERIMENT 1:
AIM:
To test the presence of adulterant in
fats, butter & oils.

APPARATUS:
Test-tubes, beakers, test-tube stand, filter
paper, dropper etc.

CHEMICALS REQUIRED:
For desi ghee & butter – conc. HCl, sugar,
small amounts of vanaspati ghee or butter.
For vegetable ghee – conc. acetic anhydride,
small amounts of vegetable ghee.
For oil – conc. Nitric acid, small amounts of
edible oil.
PROCEDURE:
In case of ordinary test for fats, butter & oils,
put a small amount of these separately on a
filter paper. Fold it & press, then unfold it. The
presence of translucent spot indicates the
presence of oil or fat. Hold the filter paper over
flame, the spot grows larger.
Test for oils:
Take 1 ml of mustard oil in a test tube & add
few drops of conc. HCl solution to it. Shake the
mixture well. Appearance of red color in the
acid layer indicates the presence of argemone
oil in mustard oil.
OBSERVATIONS & RESULTS:
S.No TYPES OF COMMON OBSERVATION INFERENCE
FOOD ADULTERANT
Desi Ghee & Vanaspati ghee Brownish pink Presence of
Butter starch & Potato aqueous layer is vanaspati ghee is
observed confirmed.
Sample 1 Yes
Yes
Sample 2 No No
Sample 3 No No
Sample 4 No
No

2. Mustard oil Argemone oil Orange colored Presence of

solution is observed. Argemone oil is
Sample 1 confirmed.
Yes Yes
Sample 2
No No
Sample 3
No No
iv) Sample 4
No No
 EXPERIMENT 2:
AIM:
To test the presence of adulterants in Sugar,
Chilli powder, Turmeric powder, salt & Pepper.

APPARATUS:
Test-tubes, beakers, test-tube stand, dropper,
glass rod etc.

CHEMICALS REQUIRED:
For sugar – dil. H SO , water, sample of sugar.
2 4

For chilli powder – dil. HNO , KI solution,

3

sample of chilli powder.

For turmeric powder – conc. HCl, sample of
turmeric powder.
For pepper – water, sample of pepper.
For salt- water.

PROCEDURE:
1) Tests for Sugar:
(a) Take a small amount of sugar in a beaker &
add some amount of water to it. Stir the
solution with a glass rod. Pure sugar dissolves
in the water whereas the insoluble particles
(chilli powder, washing powder etc.) floats on
the surface indicates the presence of
adulterants.
(b) Take 1 g of sugar in a test-tube & add few
drops of dil. HCl to it. A brisk effervescence due
to the formation of CO indicates chalk powder
2

or washing soda in the given sample of sugar.

2) Tests for Chilli powder:
(a) Take a small amount of chilli powder in a
test-tube & add few drops of dil. HNO to the
3

test-tube. Shake the mixture well & filter the

solution. To the filtrate, add 2-3 drops, of 10%
KI solution. The presence of yellow coloured
precipitate indicates the presence of lead salts
in chilli powder.
(b) Take a small amount of given red chilli
powder in a beaker & add water to it. The pure
chilli powder floats over the surface of water
whereas brick powder settles at the bottom
3) Tests for Turmeric powder:
Take a small amount of turmeric powder in a
test-tube & to this add few drops of conc. HCl.
The color changes from yellow to violet or
magenta indicates the presence of lead salts in
turmeric powder.
4) Tests for Pepper:
Take a small amount of pepper in a beaker &
add water to it. Stir the mixture with a glass
rod. Dried papaya seeds float over water &
pepper settles at the bottom. Add a little salt to
water. Chalk powder will settle down.
5) Tests for Salt: Add a little salt to water.
Chalk powder will settle down.
OBSERVATIONS & RESULTS:
S.No TYPES OF COMMON OBSERVATION INFERENCE
FOOD ADULTERANT
1. Salt Chalk powder No settled chalk No chalk powder
powder. is present.
i) Sample 1 No No
Sample 2 No No
ii)
Sample 3 No No
iii)
Sample 4 No No
iv)
2. Red chilli powder Brick powder or Settled red powder Presence of brick
dyes and red color is powder and colors
observed in the is observed.
solution
i) Sample 1 Yes Yes
Sample 2 No No
ii)
Sample 3 No No
iii)
Sample 4 No No
iv)
3. Pepper Dried papaya Filter paper remains No seeds present.
seeds uncolored
Sample 1 No No
Sample 2 No No

Sample 3 No No

iv) Yes Yes

Sample 4

4. Turmeric powder Yellow chalk No effervescence is No yellow chalk

powder. observed. powder is present.
i) Sample 1 No No
Sample 2 Yes Yes
ii)
Sample 3 No No
iii)
Sample 4 No No
iv)
CONCLUSION
The increasing number of food producers and the
outstanding amounts of imported food stuffs enables the
producers to mislead and cheat consumers. To
differentiate of those who take advantage of legal rules
from the once who commit food adulteration is very
difficult. The consciousness of consumers has become
very crucial.
However, how can we expect consequent behavior from
them regarding controversial issues emerging day by
day? In addition, ignorance and unfair market behaviors
is endangering consumer health. So we need sanctions
and judicial penalties with adequate restraining force to
halt this process.
We should take some precautions mentioned below.
 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 Ag mark.
4. Buy products of only air tight popular brands.
5. Avoid craziness for artificially coloured 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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 Pradeep’s Simplified Chemistry
th
 NCERT Textbook Class 12
 Book’s Name: Laboratory Manual Chemistry,
Class XII
Author’s Name: B.Bhushan
Name of publication: Arya Publications
Year of Publication: 2018
Pages: 188,189,190,191,192.
 Hyperlink To The Images:
WWW.FOOD HEALTHINNOVATIONS.COM
WWW. CBSEACADEMIC.NIC.IN