Food is a necessity of life. It has to be pure, healthy and in its natural form to benefit our health. However, food adulteration has made it impossible for us to eat any thing in the manner nature intended it for us. Every day we read in the newspapers how the common ingredients we use in the kitchen are mixed with toxic substances by unscrupulous people in society. The most common adulterated food ingredients are spices, milk and pulses.
Here are common food items, their adulterants as well as simple ways to test the purity:
1. Milk
Adulterant: Water and Urea
How to detect:
Water: take a vertical surface like a platter. Add a drop of the milk on top and let it flow. If the milk is adulterated with water then the drop will flow swiftly without living any trail behind. If the milk is pure then the drop will flow slowly and leave a white trail behind.
Urea: Take about five ml of milk in a test tube. Add two drops of Bromothymol blue in it. If the milk turns blue in color after five to ten minutes then the milk has presence of urea in it.
2. Mustard Seeds:
Adulterant: Argemone Seeds
How to detect: Argemone seeds appear to be very similar to mustard seeds, however, they have a rough surface. Press mustard seeds, if they is yellow from within then they are pure; Argemone seeds are white inside.
3. Ice Cream:
Adulterant: washing powder
How to detect: Add little lemon juice in the ice cream. If some bubbles appear then the ice cream is mixed with washing powder for sure. If no bubbles then the ice cream is pure.
4. Sugar or salt:
Adulterant: white chalk
How to detect: take a teaspoon of sugar and mix it in a transparent glass. The chalk will not dissolve and settle down at the bottom of the glass. The test is similar for salt purity.
5. Silver Foil:
Adulterant: Aluminum foil
How to detect: the way to check if silver foil is real or not is to burn it. Hold a piece of foil over flame with a tweezer, if it burns off completely leaving behind shiny white sphere shaped residue then the foil is real. If the foil turns to ash of grey black color then it is aluminum foil not silver.
6. Honey:
Adulterant: water
How to detect: take a cotton wick and dip it in honey under test. Hold the same over a flame with a tweezer, if it easily burns then it is pure. Presence of water in honey makes it difficult for the cotton wick to catch fire, and even if it does then it will make crackling sounds while burning.
7. Coffee:
Adulterant: chicory
How to detect: take a transparent glass filled with water. Gently sprinkle the powder of coffee on the top surface of the water, do not stir or move the glass. The coffee will float on top of the water. However, chicory will sink almost immediately after sprinkled on water. Moreover, the falling particles of chicory have caramel in it so it will leave behind a color trail.
Food is a necessity of life. It has to be pure, healthy and in its natural form to benefit our health. However, food adulteration has made it impossible for us to eat any thing in the manner nature intended it for us. Every day we read in the newspapers how the common ingredients we use in the kitchen are mixed with toxic substances by unscrupulous people in society. The most common adulterated food ingredients are spices, milk and pulses.
Here are common food items, their adulterants as well as simple ways to test the purity:
Adulterant: Water and Urea
How to detect:
Water: take a vertical surface like a platter. Add a drop of the milk on top and let it flow. If the milk is adulterated with water then the drop will flow swiftly without living any trail behind. If the milk is pure then the drop will flow slowly and leave a white trail behind.
Urea: Take about five ml of milk in a test tube. Add two drops of Bromothymol blue in it. If the milk turns blue in color after five to ten minutes then the milk has presence of urea in it.
2. Mustard Seeds:
Adulterant: Argemone Seeds
How to detect: Argemone seeds appear to be very similar to mustard seeds, however, they have a rough surface. Press mustard seeds, if they is yellow from within then they are pure; Argemone seeds are white inside.
3. Ice Cream:
Adulterant: washing powder
How to detect: Add little lemon juice in the ice cream. If some bubbles appear then the ice cream is mixed with washing powder for sure. If no bubbles then the ice cream is pure.
4. Sugar or salt:
Adulterant: white chalk
How to detect: take a teaspoon of sugar and mix it in a transparent glass. The chalk will not dissolve and settle down at the bottom of the glass. The test is similar for salt purity.
5. Silver Foil:
Adulterant: Aluminum foil
How to detect: the way to check if silver foil is real or not is to burn it. Hold a piece of foil over flame with a tweezer, if it burns off completely leaving behind shiny white sphere shaped residue then the foil is real. If the foil turns to ash of grey black color then it is aluminum foil not silver.
Adulterant: water
How to detect: take a cotton wick and dip it in honey under test. Hold the same over a flame with a tweezer, if it easily burns then it is pure. Presence of water in honey makes it difficult for the cotton wick to catch fire, and even if it does then it will make crackling sounds while burning.
7. Coffee:
Adulterant: chicory
How to detect: take a transparent glass filled with water. Gently sprinkle the powder of coffee on the top surface of the water, do not stir or move the glass. The coffee will float on top of the water. However, chicory will sink almost immediately after sprinkled on water. Moreover, the falling particles of chicory have caramel in it so it will leave behind a color trail.