Because of their selfish motives ,dishonest people never mind harming others. Their only aim is to earn money by any means. They can sacrifice morality for money. The consumer is never aware of the shrewd tactics used by these people. He falls a victim of these malpractices because of his ignorance. But here ignorance is never a bliss. We must know how to recognize things which are adulterated. Then only we can avoid using them. Adulterated food and medicines create health hazards. They can act like slow poison and take lives. So it is our duty to tell everybody around us how to save themselves from such profit mongers. We shall do our best to expose them. They will be put to task. Thus, we can create a better world. It is our humble venture to create an AWARE WORLD. We tried to reach out to those who often fall a victim with different types of swindling and to those who lack resources to be benefited by the awareness created by media.. We tried to make them understand the whole story. This squirrel effort of ours will have a chain reaction and ultimately there will be a better and ideal world.

Adulteration is the process by which the quality or the nature of a substance is reduced through the addition of a foreign or an inferior substance along with the removal of a vital element. In other words the addition of adulterants is called adulteration.

FOOD ADULTERATION

Any food item may be considered as adulterated if its nature and quality are not up to the standard. In the process of adulteration, extraneous matters are directly added to food grains. There are two types of food adulteration-

1) Intentional -These are those substances that are added as a deliberate act on the part of the adulterer with the intention to increase the margin of profit. Unscrupulous traders normally adulterate food. We often get cheated by them.

2) Incidental Intentional Adulteration-These adulterants are found in food substances by negligence, ignorance or lack of proper facilities.

CRITERIA OF FOOD SELECTION

Criteria for selection of food Selection of wholesome and non-adulterated food is essential for daily life to make sure that such foods do not cause any health hazard. Although it is not possible to ensure wholesome food only on visual examination when the toxic contaminants are present in ppm/ppb 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

 

Adulteration in food is normally present in its most crude form, prohibited substances are either added or partly or wholly substituted. In India normally the contamination/adulteration in food is done either for financial gain or due to carelessness and lack in proper hygienic condition of processing, storing, transportation and marketing. This ultimately results that the consumer is either cheated or often become victim of diseases. Such types of adulteration are quite common in developing countries or backward countries. However, adequate precautions taken by the consumer at the time of purchase of such produce can make him alert to avoid procurement of such food. It is equally important for the consumer to know the common adulterants and their effect on health.

 

S.No	Adulterant	Foods Commonly Involved	Diseases or Health Effects
1	Argemone seeds Argemone oil	Mustard seeds Edible oils and fats	Epidemic dropsy, Glaucoma, Cardiac arrest
2	Artificially coloured foreign seeds	As a substitute for cumin seed, Poppy seed, black pepper	Injurious to health
3	Foreign leaves or exhausted tea leaves, saw dust artificially coloured	Tea	Injurious to health, cancer
4	TCP	Oils	Paralysis
5	Rancid oil	Oils	Destroys vitamin A and E
6	Sand, marble chips, stones, filth	Food grains, pulses etc.	Damage digestive tract
7	Lathyrus sativus	Khesari dal alone or Mixed in other pulses	Lathyrism (crippling spastic paraplegia)
8	Mineral oil (white oil, petroleum fractions)	Edible oils and fats, Black pepper	Cancer
9	Lead  chromate	Turmeric whole and powdered, mixed spices	Anemia, abortion, paralysis, brain damage
10	Methanol	Alcoholic liquors	Blurred vision, blindness, death
11	Arsenic	Fruits such as apples sprayed over with lead arsenate	Dizziness, chills, cramps, paralysis, death
12	Barium	Foods contaminated by rat poisons (Barium  carbonate)	Violent peristalisis, arterial hypertension, muscular twitching, convulsions, cardiac disturbances
13	Cadmium	Fruit juices, soft drinks, etc. in contact with cadmium plated vessels or equipment. Cadmium contaminated water and shell-fish	'Itai-itai (ouch-ouch) disease, Increased salivation, acute gastritis, liver and kidney damage, prostrate cancer
14	Cobalt	Water, liquors	Cardiac insufficiency and mycocardial failure
15	Lead	Water, natural and processed food	Lead poisoning (foot-drop, insomnia, anemia, constipation, mental retardation, brain damage)
16	Copper	Food	Vomiting, diarrhoea
17	Tin	Food	Colic, vomiting
18	Zinc	Food	Colic, vomiting
19	Mercury	Mercury fungicide treated seed grains or mercury contaminated fish	Brain damage, paralysis, death
NOTE : Safe limits have been prescribed for above metals in different food. Continuous use of food contaminated with these metals beyond safe limits may cause these diseases.

SOURCES

http://www.enotes.com/food-encyclopedia/adulteration-food

http://www.mattwardman.com http://www.Medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com http://www.hansard.millbanksystems.com

http://www.emeraldinsight.com

Adulteration Of Foods..by Rowland J. Atcherley

Foods And Their Adulteration: Origin, Manufacture And Composition Of Food Products by Harvey W. Wiley

 

 

 

 

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