Food Adulteration

Are you getting attracted by the delectable and the luscious color of the sweets displayed at the sweet shop? or the taste of that spicy deep yellow colored pakoda? And have you ever wondered why whenever you make it at home, you never get that same yellow color?

Food is the basic necessity of life. One works hard and earns to satisfy our hunger and relax (enjoy) later. But at the end of the day, many of us are not sure of what we eat. We may be eating a dangerous dye, sawdust, soapstone, industrial starch, and aluminum foil and so on! Contaminated foods and drinks are common sources of infection. Often, we invite diseases rather than good health.

Food is adulterated if its quality is lowered or affected by the addition of substances which are injurious to health or by the removal of substances which are nutritious. It is defined as the act of intentionally debasing the quality of food offered for sale either by the admixture or substitution of inferior substances or by the removal of some valuable ingredient.

Food is declared adulterated if:
• A substance is added which depreciates or injuriously affects it.
• Cheaper or inferior substances are substituted wholly or in part.
• Any valuable or necessary constituent has been wholly or in part abstracted.
• It is an imitation.
• It is colored or otherwise treated, to improve its appearance or if it contains any added substance injurious to health.
• For whatever reasons its quality is below the Standard
Adulterated food is dangerous because it may be toxic and can affect health and it could deprive nutrients essential for proper growth and development.

Very often food is adulterated by merchants and traders who are unscrupulous and want to make a quick profit. But shortages and increasing prices,consumer demands for variety in foods, a lack of awareness, negligence,indifference and lethargy among consumers and inadequate enforcement of food laws and food safety measures also lead to food