SIGNATURE SIGNATURE
CHEMISTRY EXAMINER
TEACHER
This is to certify that ARYAN of class
XII has successfully completed
Chemistry Investigatory Project on
the topic "Study of common food
adulterants in fat, oil, butter, sugar,
turmeric powder, chilli powder and
pepper." under the guidance of
Chemistry Teacher as prescribed by
the Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE) during the
academic session 2024 - 2025 .
I would like to express my special
gratitude to my teacher as well as our
Principal who gave me the golden
opportunity and supported me to do this
wonderful project on the topic Study of
common food adulterants in fat, oil,
butter, sugar, turmeric power, chili
powder and pepper . This project also
helped me in doing a lot of Research
and I came to know about so many new
things I am really thankful to them.
I would also like to thank my Parents
and my Friends for helping me in doing
this Project .
S.NO. CONTENT PAGE NO.
1. Objective
2. Introduction
3. Theory
4. Experiment 1
5. Experiment 2
6. Experiment 3
7. Result
8. Conclusion
9. Bibliography
The ObjecTive Of This
prOjecT is TO sTudy sOme
Of The cOmmOn fOOd
adulTeranTs in faT, Oil,
buTTer, sugar, Turmeric
pOwder, chilli pOwder
and pepper .
Food is one of the basic
necessities for sustenance of life.
Pure, fresh and healthy diet is
most essential for the health of
the people. It is no wonder to
say that community health is
national wealth. Adulteration of
food- stuffs was so rampant,
widespread and persistent that
nothing short of a somewhat
drastic remedy in the form
of a comprehensive legislation
became the need of the hour.
To check this kind of anti-social
evil a concerted and determined
onslaught was launched by the
Government by introduction of the
Prevention of Food Adulteration
Bill in the Parliament to herald an
era of much needed hope and relief
for the consumers at large.
'Adulteration of food stuffs and
other goods' is now included in the
Concurrent List (III) in the
Constitution of India. It has,
therefore, become possible for the
Central Government to enact all
India legislation on this subject.
The Bill replaces all local food
adulteration laws where they exist
and also applies to those States
where there are no local laws on
the subject .
The increasing number of food
producers and the outstanding
amount of import foodstuffs
enables the producers to
mislead and cheat consumers.
To differentiate those who take
advantage of legal rules from
the ones who commit food
adulteration is very difficult.
The consciousness of consumers
would be crucial . Ignorance
and unfair market behavior
may endanger consumer health
and misleading can lead to
poisoning. So, we need simple
screening tests for their
detection. In the past few
decades, adulteration of food
has become one of the serious
problems. Consumption of
adulterated food causes serious
diseases like cancer, diarrhea,
asthma, ulcers, etc. Majority of
fats , oils and butter are
paraffin wax , castor oil and
hydrocarbons. Red chili powder
is mixed with brick powder
and pepper is mixed with dried
papaya seeds. These adulterants
can be easily identified by
simple chemical tests .
Several agencies have been set
up by the Government of India
to remove adulterants from
food stuffs. AGMARK : Acronym
for agricultural marketing.... this
organization certifies food
products for their quality. Its
objectives to promote the
Grading and Standardization of
agricultural and allied
commode .
AIM :
To detect the presence of adulterants
in fat, oil and butter .
REQUIREMENTS :
Test-tube, acetic anhydride, conc.
H2SO4, acetic acid, conc. HNO3 .
PROCEDURE :
Common adulterants present in ghee
and oil are paraffin wax,
hydrocarbons, dyes and argemone oil .
These are detected as follows :-
Adulteration of paraffin wax and
hydrocarbon in vegetable ghee :-
Heat small amount of vegetable ghee with
acetic anhydride . Droplets of oil floating
surfaces of unused acetic anhydride indicates
the presence of wax or hydrocarbons .
Adulteration of dyes in fat -
Heat 1mL of fat with a mixture of 1mL of
conc. Sulphuric acid and 4mL of acetic
acid. Appearance of pink or red color
indicates presence of dye in fat .
Adulteration of argemone oil in edible
oils -
Add small amount of oil in a test- tube,
add few drops of conc. HNO3 and shake.
Appearance of red color in the acid layer
indicates presence of argemone oil .
AIM :
To detect the presence of
adulterants in sugar.
REQUIREMENTS :
Test-tubes, dil. HCl.
PROCEDURE :
Sugar is usually contaminated with
washing soda and other insoluble
substances which are detected as
follows :-
Adulteration of various insoluble
substances in sugar
Take small amount of sugar in a
test-tube and shake it with little
water. Pure sugar dissolves in water
but insoluble impurities do not
dissolve .
Adulteration of chalk powder,
washing soda in sugar
To small amount of sugar in a test
tube, add few drops of dil. HCl.
Brisk effervescence of CO2 shows
the presence of chalk powder or
washing soda in the given sample
of sugar .
AIM :
To detect the presence of adulterants in
chilli powder, turmeric powder and pepper .
REQUIREMENTS :
Test-tubes, conc. HCl, dil. ΗΝΟ3, ΚΙ
solution
PROCEDURE :
Common adulterants present in chilli
powder , turmeric powder and pepper are
red coloured lead salts, yellow lead salts
and dried papaya seeds respectively . They
are detected as follows :-
Adulteration of red lead salts in chilli
powder
To a sample of chili powder, add dil. HNO3.
Filter the solution and add 2 drops of
potassium iodide solution to the filtrate.
Yellow ppt. indicates the presence of lead
salts in chili powder .
Adulteration of yellow lead salts to
turmeric powder
To a sample of turmeric powder add conc.
HCl. Appearance of magenta colour shows
the presence of yellow oxides of lead in
turmeric powder .
Adulterations of brick powder in red chilli
powder
Add small amount of given red chilli powder
in beaker containing water. Brick powder
settles at the bottom while pure chilli powder
floats over water .
Adulteration of dried papaya seeds
in pepper
Add small amount of sample of
pepper to a beaker containing water
and stir with a glass rod. Dried papaya
seeds being lighter float over water
while pure pepper settles at the bottom.
Selection of wholesome and non-
adulterated food is essential for
daily life to make sure that such
foods do not cause any health
hazard. It is not possible to ensure
wholesome food only on visual
examination when the toxic
contaminants are present in ppm
level. However, visual examination
of the food before purchase makes
sure to ensure absence of insects,
visual fungus, foreign matters, etc .
Therefore, due care taken by the
consumer at the time of purchase of
food after thoroughly examining
can be of great help. Secondly,
label declaration on packed food is
very important for knowing the
ingredients and nutritional value. It
also helps in checking the freshness
of the food and the period of best
before use. The consumer should
avoid taking food from an
unhygienic place and food being
prepared under unhygienic
conditions. Such types of food may
cause various diseases.
Consumption of cut fruits being sold
in unhygienic conditions should be
avoided. It is always better to buy
certified food from reputed shop .
