FOOD

MANAGEMENT
&
ADULTERATION

Module Objectives
Definition of Food management
Food Adulteration
Common adulterants found in food & its

effects on human beings

Detection of food adulterants
Adulterants that are injurious to health
Adulteration and law
A few precautions to be taken by general
public regarding food adulteration

What is Food Management?

Food management is a broad process that

involves the proper oversight of food

selection, preparation, presentation, and
preservation.

Food adulteration
The process of lowering the nutritive value of

food either by removing a vital component or

by adding substances of inferior quality, is
called food adulteration. The substance that is
used to lower the quality is known as
adulterant.

Common adulterants found in food

Food grains and grams- marble pieces, sand particles, clay gilts,

soap stone pieces.

Pulses- Colours
Wheat flour- Maida-powdered lime
talcum powder
Turmeric powder (Haldi)- metanil
yellow
Pepper- dry papaya seeds
Chilli powder- coloured saw dust
Sweets- colours not permitted
Honey- jaggery sugar
Tea- coloured tea leaves after
removing the essence

New adulterations around the world

Itlooks like chicken eggs but

its really not. The main

ingredient of these eggs are
coagulants, starch, and resin.
The shell, on the other hand, is
composed of wax, calcium
carbonate, and gypsum
powder.
How to know the
difference? The yolks will
bounce when cooked.
According to reports, the
consumption of these fake
eggs canlead to memory loss.

So, they have taken

theirimagination into the

next level. Now, even
creating phony
vegetables?!? Very sneaky.
Reports say that
formaldehyde-laced
cabbages were found in
Shandong province. And
most people who buy
these products arethose
who cannot afford to
purchase organic or
foreign goods.

In July 2007, a

reporter exposed an
undercover story
detailing how street
vendors were adding
cardboardto their
meat buns.He also
managed to show a
footage of howthe
buns were actually
made.

Adulteration in vegetables and fruits

Green vegetables like bitter

gourd (karela) and lady's

fingers (bhendi) are dipped in
copper sulphate water to make
them look greener.
Similarly, brinjals are coated
with oil (edible or otherwise)
that makes them shine;
apples lightly touched with
wax to make their coat look
impressive;
carrots dipped in red-water and
watermelons injected with gulal
to make them red from inside.

Detection of food adulteration

Tea powder and Soji (rava) : Adulterants : Iron

filings: Spread the tea leaves or soji on a

paper. Draw a magnet over it. The iron filings
if present, are attracted by the magnet.
Rice and wheat : Adulterants : Sand grit,
marble pieces, soap stone pieces. These are
visually detected and removed by sorting,
handpicking and washing.

Common Salt, Soji : Adulterants- sand and grit

A tea spoon of salt is added to a glass tumbler

containing water. Salt dissolves. Sand and grit
settle at the bottom. About 5 gms of soji is
sprinkled on water. The sand particles sink
and soji floats.
Coffee powder : Adulterant- Tamarind seed
powder: Two teaspoons of coffee powder is
added to water in a tumbler. Coffee powder
floats and the adulterants sink.

Cooking oil : Adulterant- Argemone oil: About

5 ml of cooking oil is taken in a test tube and

5 ml of concentrated nitric acid is added to it.
A reddish brown colour appears if argemone
oil is present in it.

Milk: Adulterant- Water: A few drops of milk is

dropped on a slanting glass plate. Pure milk

will flow slowly leaving a white trail behind.
Milk mixed with water will flow quickly leaving
no trail.
This test will not hold good for skimmed milk
supplied by the government dairy.
An instrument called lactometer is used to
measure thedensity of milk. Unadulterated
milk
should give a reading of 1.026 in the
lactometer.

Ghee and butter : Adulterants- Vanaspathi:

tea spoon full of butter or ghee is taken in a

test tube. Concentrated hydrochloric acid and
a pinch of sugar is added to it. It is stirred well
and allowed to settle for five minutes. Crimson
red colour appears in the lower layer if
vanaspathi is present in the sample.

How dangerous are these

adulterants??
The argemone oil used to adulterate ghee and

butter
is highly toxic. It causes a disease known as
dropsy.
Watery fluid collecting in some
parts of the body is the main symptom. It
affects the normal functioning
of the body. It may also paralyse the limbs.
Metanil yellow used to brighten the colour of
pulses, turmeric powder and sweet meats, is a
coal-tar dye. It may cause cancer.

Washing soda often added to powdered sugar

and other food items, may cause intestinal

disorders.
Food items prepared under unhygienic
conditions and stale foods cause food
poisoning.

Effects of adulteration
on humans

Precaution to be taken by the public

regarding adulteration
It is better to avoid adulterated cool drinks , instead

you can have any fresh fruit juice and tender coconut.
Parents should be concerned about the quality and
freshness of these food articles like chocolates, sweets
that children usually like.
Take the help of food adulteration testing centres.
Lodge complaints to the concerned authorities, if
adulteration is detected.
Make sure that food packets carry ISI,
AGMARK or FPO labels, before buying.
Do not buy food articles, if expiry date is
crossed.

Greens and Vegetables must be cleaned well

before using.
They must be soaked in water to which a little
salt is added for ten minutes.
The chemical layer of pesticides and sticky
dirt that contaminate will be removed.
Subsequently they are to be washed
thoroughly in water.

Organic Fruits

Organic Vegetables

Thank You !!!