PM SHRI JAWAHAR

NAVODAYA VIDYALAYA
Bhupdevpur Raigarh(C.G)

Investigatory project

Session - 2025-26

Name - Sakshi Patel

Class -12th ' Science '
Roll no.- 34
Subject - Chemistry
Topic - Food adulterants

Submitted by- Guided by-

Sakshi Patel Shwetha P. ma'am
 Certificate
This is to certify that Miss.Sakshi Patel
of class 12th"A" of PM SHRI JNV
RAIGARH has successfully completed
the chemistry Investigatory project on
the topic of food adulterants provided
by Mrs.Shwetha priyadarshini ma'am
during the academic session 2025-26 as
per the guide lines issued by Central
board of Secondary education.

External Internal
Principal
Examiner Examiner
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of
gratitude to my Chemistry teacher
Mrs.Shwetha Priyadarshini ma'am as well
as our principal ma'am Mrs.Anuradha
Sharma who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project
on Food adulterants which help me in
doing lot of research and l came to know
about so many new things .I am thankful to
them.
Secondly, l would like to thanks my parents
and friends who encouraged and
supported me and also helped me a lot in
finalizing this project within the limited
time frame.
 Index
S.n Page
Contents
o no.

1. Introduction 5

2. Theory 6

3. Experiment 1 7

4. Experiment 2 8

5. Experiment 3 9

6. Observation 10

7. Conclusion 11
 Introduction
Adulteration in food is normally present in its
most crude form; prohibited substances are
either added or partly or wholly substituted.
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.
It is equally important for the consumer to
know the common adulterants and their effect
on health

Objective:
To study the common food adulterants in fat,
oil, butter, sugar, turmeric power, chili powder
and pepper.
Theory
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, diarrhoea,
asthma, ulcers, etc. Majority of fats, oils and butter are
paraffin wax, castor oil and hydrocarbons. Red chilli
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
objective is to promote the Grading and standardization
of agricultural and allied commodities
 Experiment-1

Aim:
To detect the presence of adulterants in fat,oil and
butter.

Materials Required:
Test-tube, acetic anhydride, conc. H2SO4,acetic acid,
conc. HNO3

Procedure:
(i) Adulteration of paraffin wax and hydrocarbon in
vegetable ghee
Heat small amount of vegetable ghee with acetic
anhydride. Dropletso f oil floating on the surface of
unused acetic anhydride indicates the
presence of wax or hydrocarbons.
(ii) 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
colour indicates presence of dye in fat.
(iii) Adulteration of argemone oil in edible oils
To small amount of oil in a test-tube, add few drops of
conc. HNO3 and shake. Appearance of red colour in the
acid layer indicates presence of argemone oil.
 Experiment-2

Aim:
To detect the presence of adulterants in sugar

Materials Required:
Test-tubes, dil. HCl.

Procedure:
Sugar is usually contaminated with washing soda
and other insoluble substances which are detected
as follows :
(i)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.
(ii)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.
 Experiment-3
Aim:
To detect the presence of adulterants in samples of chilli
powder ,turmeric powder and pepper

Materials Required:
Test-tubes, conc. HCl, dil. HNO3 ,KI 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 :
(i) Adulteration of red lead salts in chilli powder
To a sample of chilli 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 chilli
powder.
(ii) 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.
(iii) Adulteration 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.
(iv) 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.
Observation :
 Conclusion
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 and 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.
 Bibliography
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