How are food adulterated – FMT Magazine

Food is one of the three essential requirements for the human race's survival. The lure of wealth and apathy toward humanity has resulted in the addition of adulterants to food, from the simple rice stones to the more dangerous boric powder and brick. If humans have gone to great lengths to ruin an extremely fundamental methods of survival, simply to satisfy their never-ending desire to be rich, then we are able to comprehend the condition of humanity on its own. If we define food adulteratio, 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 could also be accomplished by removing certain essential ingredients in order to prolong the shelf life of the item and to create a more pleasing to the customer.

broken image

"Adulterant" means any material that could be used to make the food unsafe or unsatisfactory or misbranded, or that contains extraneous substance. The most frequently processed foods that are adulterated include dairy products and the milk like edible oils, atta cereals and condiments (whole and ground) pulses coffee, tea confectionery, baking soda, non-alcoholic beverages vinegar, besan as well as curry powder.

Food adulteration types

Based on the intent There are four main kinds that can be used to adulterate food. These are:

  • 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 most famous example of this can be seen in an instance of Chinese dairy watering down case from 2008.
  • Risks of packing: The packing material used to pack food packed may react with food's ingredients and contaminate or alter the quality of food, creating packing risks.
  • Metallic adulteration: The process can occur by accident or in the intention of doing so, and the inclusion of metallic substances to food items such as mercury or lead is referred to as adulteration with metallic elements.
  • Incidental Adulteration: The residues of pesticides and harmful fertilizers, the presence of droppings from rodents, the growth of larvae and so on. are called accidental adulteration that is because of a lack of care when handling food items. 

Based on the methodological approach of classification, there are 6 kinds of classifications:

Artificial ripening

  • Mixing
  • Substituting
  • Misbranding
  • The addition of toxic substances
  • Use of food that has been decomposed

For more food related articles marketing, agrotech and technologies that are that are related to food and the Indian industries of the food sector, read the FMTmagazine. FMT Magazine is an edition of the German publication. It is an extensive Food and Drink magazine which brings together buyers and sellers through the publication top-quality internationally. The magazine covers the whole scope of the food and beverage industry. It also includes policy-related content. FMT Magazine stands for Food Marketing & Technology Magazine. The magazine features content on processing, ingredients packaging food safety, marketing, as well as interviews with prominent personalities from food safety, processing and the Indian sector of food.