St.

MICHAELS
SCHOOL
______________________________________
Committed to Excellence
______________________________________
ALWAL , HYDERABAD

CHEMISTRY Name : Mohit Kumar

Roll no:
INVESTIGATORY PROJECT Class: XII
AY: 2024-2025 Section: A
 Chemistry Investigatory Project
Study of Common
food adulterants in
fat, oil, butter,
sugar, turmeric
powder, chilli
powder and
pepper
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my Chemistry teacher
Mr. Sridhar for their able guidance and support in completing my project. I
would like to extend my gratitude to our Principal Mam Mrs. Sheetal Sharma for
providing me with all the facilities that were required.

Mohit Kumar
Class- 12 MPC
 Contents
Introduction_____________________4
Theory__________________________5
Experiment 1_____________________7
Experiment 2_____________________9
Conclusion_______________________12
Precautions______________________12
Bibliography______________________13
 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 shortage 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
SOME OF THE COMMON FOOD
ADULTERANTS IN FOOD ITEMS ARE:
 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 :
 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.H2SO4, water, sample of sugar.
For chilli powder – dil.HNO3,Kl solution ,sample of chilli powder.
For turmeric powder – conc. HCL, Sample of turmeric powder.
For pepper – water, sample of pepper
PROCEDURE : (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.
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 CO2 indicates chalk
powder or washing soda in the given sample of sugar
(b) Take a small amount of chilli powder in a test-tube & add few drops of dil. HNO3to the
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. 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

(c)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

(d) 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.
Observations & Results :
 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
Precautions
need sanction sand judicial penalties with adequate restraining force to halt
this process.
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

 Sources
https://www.hindustantimes.com/
https://fssai.gov.in/
https://www.chemistryguruji.com/
https://www.acs.org/