Food is among one of the three basic requirements of man’s survival. The lure of riches and general apathy towards mankind has led to adulterants being added to food from the simple stones in rice to the more harmful brick and boric powder. When humans have stooped down to contaminate one of the most basic means of survival, just for its never satisfying greed, then we can understand the state of humanity by itself. If we define food adulteration, then it would be something like the following: The act or process of intentional degradation of the quality of food items offered by the addition/substitution of inferior substances. It can also be done by removal of some valuable ingredients just to increase the shelf life of the product or to make it look pleasing to the eyes of the consumer.
“Adulterant” means any material which is or could be employed for making the food unsafe or sub-standard or misbranded or containing extraneous matter. Some of the commonly adulterated foods are milk and milk products, atta, edible oils, cereals, condiments (whole and ground), pulses, coffee, tea, confectionery, baking powder, non - alcoholic beverages, vinegar, besan, and curry powder.
Types of food adulteration
On the basis of intent, there are four major types of food adulteration. They are as follows:
- Intentional Adulteration: Here, similar-looking/feeling substances are added to a food item to increase its weight or quantity and gain more profit by doing so. The biggest example of this case is the Chinese milk watering down a case of 2008.
- Packing Hazard: The packing material in which the food is packed can react with the food’s ingredients to contaminate and deteriorate the condition of food leading to packing hazards.
- Metallic Adulteration: It may happen accidentally or intentionally and the addition of metallic materials into food like lead or mercury is known as metallic adulteration.
- Incidental Adulteration: Residues of pesticides or harmful fertilizers, presence of droppings of rodents, larvae growth, etc. are known as incidental adulteration which occurs due to negligence while handling food.
According to methods, there are 6 types of classifications:
● Artificial ripening
● Mixing
● Substituting
● Misbranding
● Addition of toxic substances
● Usage of decomposed food
For more articles on food Marketing, agrotech, and technology related to the Indian food industry, check out FMTmagazine. FMT Magazine is an edition of the German publication. It is a comprehensive food and beverage magazine that connects the buyers and the sellers through content that is of international quality. The magazine over the entire spectrum of the food industry including content on policies. FMT Magazine stands for Food Marketing & Technology Magazine. The magazine carries articles on ingredients, processing, packaging, food safety, and marketing, along with interviews with top personalities in the Indian food industry.
