“Food Adulteration: A Comprehensive Guide to Protect Your Family”, 4 Types of Food Adulteration

What we eat every human body absorbs that food and then releases energy. and these foods sustain our life and help in performing day-to-day activities. but if the food quality is not good then it affects our day-to-day productivity and provides us with many health problems. so make sure the food which we consume should be free from any mixing elements.

but unfortunately, some people mix these elements to earn profits. this process is called Food Adulteration. if you want to know more then keep reading this article.

Food Adulteration:-

Food adulteration is the process of mixing the elements into the food. it looks like the same texture and same appearance but there is not the same composition of nutrients. and this results in failure to meet a legal standard of food quality. it also loses the nutritional essence of the food. some products which are adultered globally are wheat, milk, honey, butter, spices, and many more.

Reason of Food Adulteration:-

• Earn maximum profit with low investment
• Due to the rising population to meet the demand.
• To increase the yearly production of the company
• Business strategies
• Low knowledge of the effects of health due to food adulteration

Types of Food Adulteration:-

1. Metallic food adulteration: –

In this type when metallic products are mixed with food like lead or mercury. it could be either intentional or unintentional.

2. Packing material:-

It means when food-packed material is not up to the standards and it interferes with food composition.

3. Intentional Food Adulteration:-

It means when someone adds some unwanted substances into the food intentionally to increase its weight or increase the quantity of the food product. there are some food adulteration used for this adding substances are mud, chalk powder, stone, water, etc.

4. Incidental Food Adulteration:-

It happens due to the ignorant nature of the people who handle any food products. such as farmers accidentally leaving pesticides in food grains.

Other Methods of Adding Food Adulterants:-

• Mix unwanted items:- it includes sand, chemicals, pebbles, and another kind of harmful substances into the food
• Mix decomposed food with healthy food:- it reduces the true quality of the food when the healthy food mix with decomposed food. it comes under the food adulteration
• Healthy products substitute with cheap quality food:- Many substitute healthy products with low-quality ones that alter their nutrition level and cause health issues.
• Not providing correct information:- it means at the time of selling then not provide its expiry date, manufacturing date, and ingredients.

Food Adulterants and Their Harmful Effects:-

• Grains: – stones, weed seeds, dust, pebbles, etc.  Harmful effects are liver disease and toxicity in the body.
• Butter and cheese:- starch powder, mashed potatoes. Harmful effects are stomach disorders.
• Milk or curd: – water or starch powder. Harmful effects are stomach problem
• Tea:- Artificial colours. effects are in the liver.
• Pulses:- chemicals and dyes. it give problems in the stomach.
• Coffee powder:- Tamarind seed powder. Harmful effects are diarrhoea
• Edible oil:- Mineral oil, artificial colours or castor oil. its effects are on the gallbladder, allergies, and high cholesterol.
• Coriander and chilli powder: – red lead, red brick powder etc. its effects are on blood pressure, stomach problem, cancer etc.
• Pepper:- Dried papaya seeds, blackberries. harmful effects are like allergic reactions, skin rashes and stomach disorders.
• Honey:- Dextrose, molasses, corn syrup. its effect on the stomach.
• Turmeric powder:- chalk powder, sawdust, lead metal etc. its effects on the stomach and can give cancer.

 Detect Adulterated Food:-

There are some methods that can be taken at home

• If you want to check if milk is adulterated with any substances like detergent or not then take this milk into the bottle and shake it well. then if you find any foam inside it then it means it contains adulterants. if not then there are no substances added to the milk.
• If you want to check adulterated products like chalk powder in sugar then take it into a container and mix this with water. if you find any residue precipitating at the bottom that means it contains contaminants.
• Also if you want to check if any vegetable mix with any substances then you need to wash them in warm water and if you find any coloured in the water then it means it contains impurities.

Get Rid of Adulterated Food Items:-

There are a few ways by the help of which you can get pure items mentioned in the above list of food adulteration

• Always try to buy grains and other essential foods from your local market or from the farmer directly
• Try to prepare some items at home like red chilli powder by grinding dried red chillies.
• Try to avoid dark-coloured food items
• Always choose branded food items
• Always check the seal of each item like milk and oil.

so at last we can say that food adulteration is a very common practice among people globally. so it is better to know the whole process of how to buy, and how to check. we hope this article provides you with some knowledge of food adulteration.

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