KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA BALLYGUNGE
AISSE CHEMISTRY
PROJECT 2024-2025
NAME OF PROJECT:
STUDY OF COMMON ADULTERANTS IN FAT, OIL,
BUTTER, SUGAR, TURMERIC, POWDER, CHILLI
POWDER AND PEPPER
NAME: ASHMITA MANDAL
ROLL NO:
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project on “FOOD
ADULTERATION” is successfully carried out by
ASHMITA MANDAL, of class XII of “Kendriya Vidyalaya
Ballygunge”, Kolkata, West Bengal for the fulfilment
of chemistry investigatory project during the
academic session 2024-2025.
Internal Examiner External Examiner
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
An investigatory project is a golden opportunity for learning
self development. I consider myself fortunate and privileged
to have such a wonderful mentor’s guide through the journey
for completion of the project.
My heartful gratitude to my teacher and guide, Mrs. Anam
Parveen ma’am for her patience and believe in me. Her
exemplary investment in the complete process, constant
encouragement, and insightful feedback helped me to
achieve this objective. I would also like to extend my thanks
to the principal, Mr. Uttam Kumar sir, for granting me this
wonderful opportunity to be part of this project.
I would also like to thank my parents for encouraging me
during the course of this project. Finally, I would like to thank
CBSE for giving me this opportunity to undertake this project.
AIM & INTRODUCTION
AIM: Study of common food adulterants in fat, oil, butter, sugar,
turmeric power, chilli powder and pepper.
Adulteration refers to the addition of inferior or harmful
substances to food items, compromising their quality and safety.
This project aims to identify common adulterants in various food
items, including fats, oils, butter, sugar, turmeric powder, chili
powder, and pepper. Understanding these adulterants is essential
for consumer safety.
Adulterants in common food:
Adulterants in fats, oils and butter are paraffin wax, Castor
oil and hydrocarbons.
Adulterants in chilli powder and turmeric powder are brick
powder and yellow lead powder.
Sugar is contaminated with washing soda.
Pepper is adulterated with dry papaya seeds.
Impact of adulterants
Adulteration of food causes several health problems in
humans. These include stomach ache, body ache,
anaemia, paralysis, incidence of tumours, abnormalities in
skin and eyes.
Due to food adulteration people suffer from heart
diseases, skin disease, asthma and other chronic diseases.
EXPERIMENT 1
AIM: To detect the presence of adulterants in fat, oil and butter.
REQUIREMENTS: Test-tube, acetic anhydride, conc. H2SO4, acetic
acid, conc. HNO3 .
PROCEDURE: Common adulterants present in ghee and oil are
paraffin wax, hydrocarbons, dyes and argemone oil. These are
detected as follows:
i. Adulteration of paraffin wax and hydrocarbon in vegetable
ghee: Heat small amount of vegetable ghee with acetic
anhydride. Droplets of 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- Add 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.
REQUIREMENTS: 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 chilli powder,
turmeric powder and pepper.
REQUIREMENTS: 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.
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 an 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.
PRECAUTIONS
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 AGMARK.
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.
BIBLOGRAPHY
From the web:
www.wikipedia.com
www.scribd.com
www.google.com
Books:
Class 12 Chemistry NCERT Part-1
Class 12 Chemistry NCERT Part-2
