Adulteraion of food refers to mixing other matter of an inferior and sometimes harmful quality with food or drink intended to be sold. Adulterant in food is normally present in its most crude form, prohibited substances are either added or partly or wholly substituted.

Food Adulteration

In India, Generally food products are adulterated 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 many serious disease.

However, adequate precautions taken by the consumer at the time of purchase of such produce can make him/her alert to avoid procurement of such food.

Below, is the list of some of the common food adulterants and their effect on health.

S.No

Adulterant

Foods Commonly Involved

Diseases or Health Effects

Adulterants in food

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)

 

Chemical Contamination

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

Bacterial contamination

20.

Bacillus cereus

Cereal products, custards, puddings, sauces

Food infection (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)

21.

Salmonella spp.

Meat and meat products, raw vegetables, salads, shell-fish, eggs and egg products, warmed-up leftovers

Salmonellosis (food infection usually with fever and chills)

22.

Shigella sonnei

Milk, potato, beans, poultry, tuna, shrimp, moist mixed foods

Shigellosis (bacillary dysentery)

23.

Staphylococcus aureus

Entero-toxins-A,B,C,D or E

Dairy products, baked foods especially custard or cream-filled foods, meat and meat products, low-acid frozen foods, salads, cream sauces, etc.

Increased salivation, vomiting, abdominal cramp, diarrhoea, severe thirst, cold sweats, prostration

24.

Clostridium botulinus toxins

A,B,E or F

Defectively canned low or medium-acid foods; meats, sausages, smoked vacuum-packed fish, fermented food etc.

Botulism (double vision, muscular paralysis, death due to respiratory failure)

25.

Clostridium.perfringens

(Welchii) type A

Milk improperly processed or canned meats, fish and gravy stocks

Nausea, abdominal pains, diarrhoea, gas formation

26.

Diethyl stilbestrol (additive in animal feed)

Meat

Sterlites, fibroid tumors etc.

27.

3,4 Benzopyrene

Skoked food

Cancer

28.

Excessive solvent residue

Solvent extracted oil, oil cake etc.

Carcinogenic effect

29.

Non-food grade or contaminated packing material

Food

Blood clot, angiosarcoma, cancer etc.

30.

Non-permitted colour or permitted food colour beyond safe limit

Coloured food

Mental retardation, cancer and other toxic effect.

31.

BHA and BHT beyond safe limit

Oils and fats

Allergy, liver damage, increase in serum chloresterol etc.

32.

Monosodium glutamate(flour) (beyond safe limit)

Chinese food, meat and meat products

Brain damage, mental retardation in infants

33.

Coumarin and dihydro coumarin

Flavoured food

Blood anticoagulant
34. Food flavours beyond safe limit Flavoured food Chances of liver cancer

35.

 Brominated vegetable oils Cold drinks Anemia, enlargement of heart

36.

 Sulphur dioxide and sulphite beyond safe limit In variety of food as preservative Acute irritation of the gastro-intestinal tracts etc.
37. Artificial sweetners beyond safe limit Sweet foods Chances of cancer
Fungal contamination

38.

 Aflatoxins Aspergillus flavus-contaminated foods such as groundnuts, cottonseed, etc. Liver damage and cancer
39. Ergot alkaloids from Claviceps purpurea Toxic alkaloids, ergotamine, ergotoxin and ergometrine groups Ergot-infested bajra, rye meal or bread Ergotism (St.Anthony’s fire-burning sensation in extremities, itching of skin, peripheral gangrene)
40. Toxins from

Fusarium sporotrichioides

 Grains (millet, wheat, oats, rye,etc) Alimentary toxic aleukia(ATA) (epidemic panmyelotoxicosis)
41. Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichiella Moist grains Urov disease (Kaschin-Beck disease)
42. Toxins from

Penicillium inslandicum

Penicillium atricum,

Penicillium citreovirede,

Fusarium, Rhizopus,

Aspergillus

 Yellow rice Toxic mouldy rice disease
43. Sterigmatocystin from

Aspergillus versicolour

Aspergillus nidulans and bipolaris

 Foodgrains Hepatitis
44. Ascaris lumbricoides Any  raw food or water contaminated by human faces containing eggs of the parasite Ascariasis
45. Entamoeba histolytica

Viral

 

 Raw vegetables and fruits Amoebic dysentery
46. Virus of infectious

Hepatitis (virus A)

 Shell-fish, milk, unheated foods contaminated with faeces, urine and blood of infected human Infectious hepatitis
47. Machupo virus Foods contaminated with rodents urine, such as cereals Bolivian haemorrhagic fever
  Natural Contamination
48. Flouride Drinking water, sea foods, tea, etc. Excess fluoride causes fluorosis (mottling of teeth, skeletal  and neurological disorders)
49. Oxalic acid Spinach, amaranth, etc. Renal calculi, cramps, failure of blood to clot
50. Gossypol Cottonseed flour and cake Cancer
51. Cyanogenetic compounds Bitter almonds, apple seeds, cassava, some beans etc. Gastro-intestinal disturbances
52. Polycyclic Aromatic

Hydrocarbons(PAH)

 Smoked fish, meat, mineral oil-contaminated water, oils, fats and fish, especially shell-fish Cancer
53. Phalloidine (Alkaloid) Toxic mushrooms Mushroom poisoning (Hypoglycemia, convulsions, profuse watery stools, severe necrosis of liver leading to hepatic failure and death)
54. Solanine Potatoes Solanine poisoning (vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
55. Nitrates and Nitrites Drinking water, spinach rhubarb, asparagus, etc. and meat products Methaemoglobinaemia especially in infants, cancer and tumours in the liver, kidney, trachea oesophagus and lungs. The liver is the initial site but afterwards tumours appear in other organs.
56. Asbestos (may be present  intalc, Kaolin, etc. and in processed foods) Polished rice, pulses, processed foods containing anti-caking agents, etc. Absorption in particulate form by the body may produce cancer
57. Pesticide residues (beyond safe limit) All types of food Acute or chronic poisoning with damage to nerves and vital organs like liver, kidney, etc.
58. Antibiotics (beyond safe limit) Meats from antibiotic-fed animals Multiple drug resistance hardening of arteries, heart disease