International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences

2020; 9(3): 86-94

http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijnfs
doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20200903.13
ISSN: 2327-2694 (Print); ISSN: 2327-2716 (Online)

Review Article
Food Adulteration and Some Methods of Detection, Review
Misgana Banti
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Jimma Agricultural Research Centre, Jimma, Ethiopia

Email address:

To cite this article:

Misgana Banti. Food Adulteration and Some Methods of Detection, Review. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences.
Vol. 9, No. 3, 2020, pp. 86-94. doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20200903.13

Received: May 25, 2020; Accepted: June 9, 2020; Published: June 23, 2020

Abstract: Most of the Foods we are having are prone to food fraud and adulteration. Food adulteration is either the addition of
a non-food item to increase the quantity of raw or prepared food intentionally or non food substances added accidentally. Food
adulteration also includes any poisonous or deleterious substances which may render the food injurious to health. Food
adulteration can be either the act of addition, removing valuable food component or substitution of these valuable ingredients
with relatively less expensive (cheaper) substances for unfair economic gain. This act of food fraud may be an economic gain for
the manufacturer, while it is loss for the final consumers of the products. While buying and serving an adulterated foods,
consumers are affected in different ways; they may not getting the intended food nutrients, the adulterated foods may be unsafe
for health and it can also be economic loss to the consumers. There are different food known to be prone to adulteration both in
our country Ethiopia and the world including milk, meat, injera in our country, Ethiopia, honey, butter, juices, and etc as
examples. There was a report through media outlet very recently in Ethiopia about adulteration of injera with saw dust. There are
different methods through which food adulteration can be detected. These methods include physical, chemical, biochemical, and
other techniques. Detection of food adulterant is more difficult when both adulterant and the food itself have approximately the
same physiochemical makeup. Adulterations of food interfere with consumers’ right to get safe and good quality foods. So, all
responsible individuals, organization, including government should fulfill their responsibility to protect the act of food
adulteration and to expose the identified acts. Moreover, researchers and academia working in different research institute have
many gaps to address related to the topic including assessment of the status, identification of foods susceptible for adulteration in
the context of the country, development and validation of detection methods and much more.
Keywords: Adulteration, Fraud, Intentional, Incidental, Replacement, Substitution

health process and incidents at home, in modern times, change

1. Introduction in life styles and raise in income leads more and more peoples
Food is stuff of either plant or animal origin which in raw, to have ready to eat foods at restaurant on regular basis [1].
processed or semi-processed form will taken in to the body in The food in numerous of these outlets may have been cooked
order to support the different biochemical and physiological with poor quality while still attract and satisfy the palate rather
activities of our body. Most of the times, these foods are prone than provide a wholesome nutritional meal. Nevertheless,
to food fraud and adulteration, and put health disorder to normally most people do not know these foods are adulterated
consumers. The term food fraud encompasses the deliberate by 25 to 30 percent as implied by the above authors. This
substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, causes a major impairment for the health these consumers.
food ingredients or food packaging, or false or misleading Quality and safety of food including the factors affecting
statements made about a product for economic gain. The them have major rising areas within the food supply chain and
specific type of fraud is the fraudulent, addition of fake attracted attentions of researchers, government and regulatory
substances or removal or replacement of genuine substances bodies [6]. Food adulteration is one among these different
without the purchaser’s knowledge for economic gain by the emerging areas of science. The word adulteration can be viewed
seller. Though traditionally, people cook and eat foods with in different ways, either mixing or substitution of inferior
 International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2020; 9(3): 86-94 87

substances to the one which is superior to the adulterants or longevity or improve its taste [18]. According to this author, as
removal of some of valuable constituents from a given food early as 300,000 years ago, early humans had used fire to cook
products [20]. The term adulterated in legal term is used to and conserve meat. Later on, it was identified that salt could be
mean that a food product fails to meet federal or state standards. added to preserve meat without cooking. Wine was often mixed
Adulteration can also be the addition of a non-food item to with honey, herbs, spices and even saltwater, chalk or lead, which
increase the quantity of the food in raw or prepared form, served as both a sweetener and a preservative in ancient Rome
preservation purpose, and improvement of appearance which and Greece. The act of adulterating food for economic gain began
can be done either intentionally or unintentionally. Also to emerge as time goes on. During the Middle Ages, imported
included are any poisonous or deleterious substances which valuable and high prices spices were of high demand and limited
may render the food injurious to health. Examples would be supply. Thus, merchants sometimes started to combine it with
adding water to milk or animal carcasses to meat products other nutshells, pits, seeds, juniper berries, and stones or dust [18].
than the animal meant to be consumed, stones, gravel sand, Accordingly, contemporary accounts of adulteration date from
insects, or animal hairs to grain products. So, one among the the 1850s to the present day. Adulteration was thought to be first
definitions of food adulteration is that it is an act of intentionally investigated in 1820 by the German chemist Frederick Accum,
debasing the quality of food offered for sale. Consumers are who identified many toxic metal colorings in foods and drinks.
always either at least sufferers of being cheated or even victims Later on physician Arthur Hill Hassall carried out extensive
of disease as a result of adulteration of food stuffs and death to research in the early 1850s, which led to the 1860 food
the worst. So, knowing common types of foods to be adulteration act and further legislations [18].
adulterated, common adulterants and health implications of the
different adulterants are very important to the consumer [2]. 3. Types of Adulteration
Adulterants can also be elaborated as chemical substances
which should not be contained within a given food or beverage; Literature [8] defined adulteration as the act of debasing
but, may be intentionally added to more expensive substances to product with the objective of counterfeiting a pure or genuine
increase visible quantities and reduce manufacturing costs, or for commodity or of substituting an inferior article for a superior
some other deceptive or malicious purpose [2]. The act of one in order to gain an illegitimate profit. In addition, the
adulteration was more common in societies from very ancient time authors list four ways of adulteration [8]. These are:
with few legal controls on food quality due to poor or nonexistent Addition of extraneous matter, example addition of sand to
monitoring by authorities. Sometimes the act of adulteration may food grains and water to milk;
even extended to exceedingly dangerous chemicals and poisons. Mixing inferior quality material with a superior one,
More recently for example, [13] stated that, in the People’s example mixing used/spent tea leaves with fresh tea leaves
Republic of China (Chinese milk scandal case with melamine) in The use of prohibited dyes and preservatives, example
which some children killed and thousands were harmed and has coloring of spices;
attracted much public attention. Thus, food adulteration is still Extraction of valuable ingredients, for example, abstraction
becoming one of the significant public health issues in different of fat from milk or oils from spices.
countries. The malpractice of adding harmful chemicals in food Thus, food is said to be adulterated if any of the following
items is not only impacting on consumers’ health but also happened to it [8]:
destroying the nutritional compositions of food [16]. A substance is added which decreases its value or makes it
The issue of adulteration in our country is also not less injurious.
important as compared to other countries, except the fact that Less expensive or inferior substances are substituted wholly
there is limited reported literature and research done in the area or in part.
due to different issues related to awareness, resources, Any valuable constituents have been subtracted either
attentions and others. Even the available limited literatures are entirely or in part.
found in dispersed forms and hence needed to be collected and In case it is counterfeiting (imitation).
compiled in more organized review forms. This reviewing of In case colored or otherwise treated to improve its
literature concerning such issue is extremely important because, appearance with stuff injurious to health
it will make easy to know what have been identified and done No matter what the reason is, if its quality is below the
so far in the area and to identify gaps for further research. Hence, standard.
this review paper was prepared by reviewing different sources Food in general is adulterated for different reasons. Some
related to adulteration and put some future line of work, so that organizations or individuals in food supply chains are adding
it will be focal pints of research for the future. adulterants to foods for improving the appearance to get better
price by cheating buyers of the products. Food can also
2. History of Adulteration adulterated for increasing volume, preserving or others.
Generally, adulterations can be intentional and unintentional
The usage of adulterants has been common in societies with ([4, 13, 10] and [11]).
few legal controls on food quality and hence poor or even
nonexistent monitoring by authorities. During the times 3.1. Intentional Adulteration
prehistory, humans have altered the state of food to extend its Intentional food adulteration is purpose fully performed
88 Misgana Banti: Food Adulteration and Some Methods of Detection, Review

type of adulteration and is usually done for financial gain. The 3.3. Metallic Contaminants
most frequent type of adulteration of this category is color
adulteration. The examples of the intentional adulteration are Metallic contaminants may enter the food supply chain
the addition of water to liquid milk, extraneous matter to through environmental contamination or during food
ground spices, or the removal or substitution of milk solids production process and they may be present in food in trace
from the natural product. It includes, adding things like sands, amount [10]. Arsenic from pesticides, lead from water, and
marble chips, stones, mad, other filth, chalk powder, water, effluent from chemical industries, tin from cans are some of
mineral oil, and harmful color to earn some unfair profit ([19] the metallic contaminants which could be considered another
and [25]). Addition of water or urea to liquid milk, extraneous incidental type of adulterants in foods [25]. The mercury from
matter to ground spices, addition of argemone seeds to effluents, lead from water and similar contaminants are also
mustard seeds, washing powder to ice creams, chalk to sugar, among metallic contaminant adulteration type [10].
water to honey, chicory to coffee, white powered stone to 3.4. Natural Adulteration
common salt, argemone oil to groundnut oil are all intentional
adulterations reported from different parts of the world ([12] The natural adulteration is also another type of adulteration
and [19]). It is dangerous because, amounts of nutrients which could take place in foods due to the presence of different
deducted and extraneous substances added into food items that chemicals, organic compounds or radicals naturally occurring
are done by business oriented people just forgetting the in foods which are injurious to health and are not added to the
humanity behind of money making mentality [3]. foods intentionally or unintentionally [19]. From different types
According to [17], olive oil, milk, honey, saffron, orange juice, of natural adulterations, some examples are toxic varieties of
coffee and apple juice are the seven most likely food to be targets pulses, mushrooms, green and other vegetables, fish and
for intentional or economically aggravated use of adulterants in seafood which might be called as anti-nutrients in some of cases.
food, or food fraud as of the first U.S. public database created to Many varieties from species of marine fish are known to be
compile information on risk factors for food fraud. Calcium toxic of which many are among edible varieties.
carbide used in mangoes, bananas, copper sulfate used to ripen The act of food adulteration can also be categorized as
fruits faster, oxytocin a harmone used for faster growth of replacement, addition or removal [25]. Replacement can be
Pumpkin, watermelon, gourds, cucumber, wax to add shine on absolute or partial substitution of a food component or valuable
apples and pears, cheap green colors containing chemicals such authentic constituent with less expensive substitute with the
as metallic lead applied to bitter gourd and leafy vegetables to intention of circumventing on origin and false declaration of the
give fresh color, pesticides and herbicides used excessively for process in general. Addition on the other hand is the inclusion
growing fruits and vegetables can all be considered adulterants if of small amount of non-authenticated substances to mask
not well communicated to consumer [19]. inferior quality ingredient. The removal type of adulteration is
taking away of authentic and valuable constituents without
3.2. Incidental Adulteration purchasers’ knowledge. These all are done for the economic
Unintentional (incidental) adulteration is a result of gain. Adulteration can also occur during production of organic,
ignorance or the lack of facilities to maintain food quality. This genetically modified, irradiating foods [19].
may be caused by leak out effect or from pesticides and 3.5. Adulteration in Organic Foods
fertilizers. Inappropriate food handling and packaging methods
can also result in these types of adulterations. Accidental food In case the food is claimed to be organic, it needs to be
adulteration as the name imply occurs accidentally (incidentally) grown and manufactured in a manner that adheres to standards
without our knowledge [19]. Authors further elaborate that, a set by the respective country they sold in. In an organic type of
variety of green vegetables is grown in areas of industries and farming there is no use synthetic pesticide into the
these areas have high levels of industrial pollutants, including environment. The most common pesticides, accepted for
heavy metals, which are absorbed by the plants and hence, food restricted use by most organic standards, include Bt,
adulteration occurs accidentally is expected. Pesticide residues, pyrethrum and rotenone. Therefore, any food claimed organic
droppings of rodents, larvae in foods are examples of and not fulfilling the standards is adulterated [19].
adulterants under this category [25]. This type of adulteration is
brought due to lack of proper hygienic conditions of food 3.6. Adulteration During Irradiating the Foods
products and drinks throughout production site to consumption In food irradiation, ionizing radiation like radionuclide
table. Here, the producers or traders are not in position to add Cobalt-60 is applied to food for destroying and checking the
different adulterants but the ways the products are produced, multiplication of microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, or insects that
handled, passed, and processed, stored, transported and might be present in the food and for sprout inhibition, delay of
marketed may be the places where they were contaminated or ripening and improvement of rehydration as well [19]. When
adulterated since any substance without its original is irradiating foods, the quantity of dosage is very much important. In
extraneous to the product and hence is considered adulteration. ionizing radiation, there are disruptions of internal metabolism of
These includes: residual pesticides, tin from cans, rodent cells, DNA cleavage, and formation of free radicals. In the process,
droppings, preservatives, mercury from effluents, lead from there are disruption in chemical bonds, possible development of
water, etc., ([10] and [4]).
 International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2020; 9(3): 86-94 89

resistant microorganisms, inadequate analytical procedures to will be sever health hazards. Therefore, all these acts without
detect irradiation in food, and public resistance. If this irradiation is knowledge of consumer can be considered adulteration.
used at the level that it can be over dosed, then, it is obvious that it
Table 1. Irradiation doses in some foodstuff.

Dose of irradiation (Kilogray, KGy)

No Name of foods
Minimum Maximum Overall Dosage
1 Pulses 0.25 1.0 0.62
2 Onions 0.03 0.09 0.06
3 Spices 6 14 10
4 Mango 0.25 0.75 0.50
5 Frozen Sea Foods 4.0 6.0 5.00
6 Dried Sea Foods 0.25 1.0 0.62
7 Fresh Sea Foods 1.0 3.0 2.00

Source: [28]

3.7. Adulteration during Production of Genetically Modified meat or milk adulterated with chemicals like formalin. Human
Foods health is highly sensitive to food adulteration and sometimes
shows immediate side effects like diarrhea, dysentery and
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms in vomiting. For example, coffee powder substituted with date seed
which the genetic material (DNA) has been changed in a manner powder or tamarind can cause diarrhea [17]. According to [19], a
that does not happen in nature. It is often called modern chunk of the green leafy vegetables sold in Chennai is found to
technology or gene technology. Combining genes from different contain toxic metals that have the potential to harm various organs
organisms is said to be genetic modification. The GM products of the body. It is common in almost all developing countries. And
include medicines, vaccines, food and food ingredients, feeds and their ugly faces is come out in the form of its harmful effects as
fibers. Though GM foods are developed and marketed because stomach disorder, giddiness and join pain, diarrhea, liver disorder,
there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or dropsy, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory diseases, cardiac
consumer of these foods; there are safety issues including arrest, glaucoma, carcinogenic effects, paralysis etc. Therefore,
allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, and unknown health concern related to food adulteration as can be understood
effects can happen. Thus, unless communicated to users, GM from this review includes food poisoning, stomach ache,
food could be one form of adulterations [19]. indigestion, loose stools, cough, fever, vomiting or nausea, apthae
in mouth, out of infection from adulterated food, and etc.
4. Food Adulteration and Its 4.2. Economic Impact of Adulteration
Consequence
Adulterant is rampant in poor strata of society due to consumer’s
4.1. Health Problems Related to Adulteration illiteracy and ignorance of their rights and responsibilities towards
food adulteration [15]. High incidence of food borne illness is
Adulterated foods can leads to different health problem found in families who consume adulterated food. Thus, adulterated
after consumption and considered as one of the major problem foods may be illegal profit for those who are adulterating while it is
of everyday life [19]. For example, addition of argemone not only expense of money for consumer but also leads to illness as
seeds to mustard can cause loss of vision and heart diseases. well. With time, acceptance of foods in the any types of market
As concluded by [7], adulterations expose the society to many could decrease due to destruction in originality of adulterated foods
diseases ranging from mild to life threatening. For example, and this in turn is economic loss [5].
asthma, skin diseases and cancer caused due to intake of fish, fruits,
Table 2. Examples of purpose and harmful effects of adulterants.

Adulterant Purpose Harmful Effects

Water polluted with feces, microorganisms and harmful chemicals may have deleterious effects
Water To increase the volume of milk
on human health; potential risk for water born disease.
To increase total solids and hence the Food adulterated with such food products is not as nutritious as the original one and low
Cellulose
quantity of the products. digestibility.
Low priced non-milk proteins such as soy,
Proteins The expected protein will not be obtained and is not the same as what is paid for.
pea and wheat proteins
Cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney damage, acute failure of the circulatory system and
Boric acid Used as a stable preservative
even death

Source: [23].

The above table shows only examples of adulterants and the to these one, rather, there are different types of adulterants in
purpose why they are used in milk and health or nutrition milk as it is true for other food products.
implications. However, the adulterants in milk are not limited
90 Misgana Banti: Food Adulteration and Some Methods of Detection, Review

5. Food Products Prone to Adulteration adulterant to pepper powder as the above literatures implied.
The harmful effect with this papaya seed is that Papaya seeds
There are various food items and drinks that are prone for can cause serious liver problems and stomach disorders.
adulteration as revealed according to the reports of different Different edible oil samples were also analyzed by [8] for the
authors across the world. That means it may be difficult to get presence of argimone oil and it is observed that 2.7% of his oil
a food items, may be flour, pulse, oil, fruit, vegetable, milk, samples contain argimone oil because; the samples indicated
sweet, spices, tea, coffee, honey, bakery item, chocolate, fruit reddish brown precipitate. The result of this author again is in
juice, and the like which is free from one or the other forms of line with that of [17] who found that argemone seeds oil which
adulterants. Even animal feed like cake as protein supplement is used to add bulk and weight to edible oils proven to be
for lactating animals is adulterated which accounts about 90% carcinogenic if consumed over a long period of time.
of un-branded loose forms as indicated in literature [1]. This information of food adulteration in our country,
Ethiopia indicates the needs of attention even though few
6. The Cases of Adulteration in Ethiopia research reports concerning the issue are available. For
instance, [8] concludes that adulteration is becoming a serious
In our country Ethiopia, varieties of foods are known to be problem in Bahir Dar area which the author stated might be a
adulterated. For instance, there is adulteration of milk and milk health risk for the community. As the author further stated,
products that is done by some selfish producers of raw milk and some of the consumers are unaware of the problem, others
majorly traders/retailers/middlemen by using several chemicals have no access to methods of identification and the rest are
like urea and adding substances such as starch, flour, cane sugar, due to carelessness. The scarcity of research based
vegetable oils, preservatives, water, skim milk, etc [5]. This information with respect to the acts of adulteration in Ethiopia
phenomenon is not limited to milk but, also to the other plant and implies that much work is needed ranging from the assessment
animal food products. Food products like milk, grain, beverages, of different food stuffs to searching for different possible
butter and etc are known to be adulterated even traditionally. For detection methods which could be used for its identification.
example, very recently, peoples were arrested for found while
adulterating tef flour with saw dust, Jesso or ‘sagatura’ in local
language of the country Ethiopia for making injera for sell. This 7. Detection Mechanisms of Adulterated
information about adulteration of injera with saw dust was Food
written in Ethiopian standard agency information media page in
2018. Even though not researched and reported scientifically, this The mechanisms of identifying the usage of adulterants in
flour for injera is also known to be adulterated even with foods depends on physical, chemical, biochemical, and other
relatively less expensive crops without the knowledge of the techniques. All these methods, which have replaced the early
consumer. This indicates that, there are hidden adulterations organoleptic and other empirical tests, are continuously
without being reported and need attention in the future. updated because food adulteration is interminable, and new
Literature [8] also examined different foods from different problems are always arising. Different types of analytical
regions of Bahir Dar for adulteration. Among the food tested by procedures are usually employed for most cases of
the author, the butter samples collected from 4 different markets adulteration so that the analyst has the flexibility to choose the
were one and were analyzed for the presence of adulterants. appropriate one (number of samples to be analyzed, sensitivity
Based on the author’s results, 6.7% of the butter samples he required, etc). For example, red wine adulterated with the
tested were found adulterated with vegetable sources, mainly juice of bilberries or elderberries produced a deep blue
mashed potatoes indicating a blue color. Coffee was also tested precipitate with lead acetate [17]. According to the authors
by the same author and found to be adulterated. From the results also, starch in rice flour or wheat flour often added to thicken
of the test, the author revealed that 8% of the samples from 5 cream, could be recognized by the blue color produced by a
different markets showed blue color for the presence of high dilute solution of iodine test in aqueous potassium iodide.
concentration of starch or sugar which entails that the coffee
powder is adulterated with roasted cereals. According to him, 7.1. Chemical and Biochemical Methods
roasted cereals like barely, maize, soybean, coffee husks and There are different designed chemical and biochemical
straw, etc are the suspected adulterants to be used in coffee. methods for detection of adulterants which can be categorized
Honey is also another possible food product prone to as chromatography based, spectroscopy and immunology
adulteration. After conducting Fielen’s test, the author based and electrophoresis based [7]. According to these
observed cherry red color in 15% of the samples indicating authors, the basic analytical approach involves various steps
that the honey was adulterated with sugar or invert sugar [8]. including extraction with a suitable solvent, cleanup for
On his experiment on red pepper powder, the author comes up removal of interfering matrix components, chromatographic
with result that 1.3% of the sample contains brick powder and separation and selective detection.
grit that settled at the bottom of the sample of red pepper These and other methods of detection of adulterants can be
powder. He supported his result by citing the work by [17] done by following the respective procedures of each of the
who reported brick powder as the common adulterant for methods. HPLC can be used as a quality control tool as it can
chilly-powder. Papaya seeds used to add bulk are also another separate various chemical constituents from mixtures; it is also
 International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2020; 9(3): 86-94 91

used for characterizing food products or to detect adulteration chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques has also shown a
[7]. That mean, its use in adulterant detection lies in its capacity high potential for detection of adulterants, for example, GC-MS
to separate mixture of chemicals. For example, among the has shown potential to detect honey adulteration with
analytical techniques of adulterant detection, HPLC commercial syrups [21]. The indirect enzyme-linked
(High-performance liquid chromatography) is the most widely immune-sorbent assay (ELISA) was also developed for the
used technique and the procedures will follow the normal detection and quantification of bovine milk adulteration in goat’s
procedure of chemical determination by this instrument. milk [27]. It has been observed that ELISA can be successfully
Gas chromatography (GC) is an extra apparatus for used to determine adulteration of milk samples and thus ELISA
identification of adulterants and is used for separating volatile kits will help in routine inspection of milk.
organic compounds. GC along with mass spectroscopy (MS) Milk and milk products adulterated with starchy products
and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has been can be identified through digestion of starch by first boiling
widely used for adulterant detection as these are non 2-3 ml of sample in 5 ml of water, cooling and adding 2 to 3
destructive techniques with respect to the sample [7]. Gas drops of iodine and then formation of blue color indicates the
chromatography is generally used to discriminate among presence of starch.
different varieties of the same product, adulteration detection, Ghee adulterated with starchy products can also be detected
and organic compound authentication and identification. following the same principle.
Among the spectroscopic techniques, near infrared Detection of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and other
spectroscopy (NIR) helps in rapid detection of adulterants in raw starches in ghee/butter can be done by taking half teaspoon of
material but is unable to identify the contaminant [7]. The authors ghee/butter in a transparent glass bowl, adding two to three
further stated another detection method; nuclear magnetic drops of tincture of iodine and hence, formation of blue color
resonance (NMR) which will not only detects an adulterant but indicates the presence of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and
also provides structural identification of the contaminant. other starches.
According to [26], Atomic Absorption Spectrometry can be Milk adulteration by starchy source can be identified by
utilized as validation method for analysis of lead in all foods heat treatment. While heat is applied, the starch will galvanize
except oils, fats and extremely fatty products. A combination of and this will be an index.

Figure 1. Milk adulteration detection by starch test.

Figure 2. Butter/ghee adulteration which can be detected by simple starch test.

92 Misgana Banti: Food Adulteration and Some Methods of Detection, Review

Source: http://foodsmart.fssai.gov.in/DART.pdf.
Figure 3. Way to differentiate iodized and common salt.

If iodized salt is in need and there is worry about whether if it is iodized salt while no blue color if not.
the available salt iodized or not, it can simply checked as Some examples of simple physical methods of detecting
follows. First, cutting a piece of potato, add salt and wait for a adulterants are given in the following table:
minute, add two drops of lemon juice, blue color will develop
Table 3. Lists the common adulterated food staffs and simple methods to identify.

Food product Adulterants Detection methods

Mustard Argemone seeds Argemone seeds have rough surface & on pressing is white inside. Mustard is yellow inside
Ice Cream Washing Powder Put some lemon juice, bubbles are observed if washing powder is present
A cotton wick dipped in pure honey burns when ignited with a matchstick. Presence of water will not allow the
Honey Water
honey to burn, and if it does, it will produce a cracking sound.
Brick Powder Brick powder settles fast chilli, powder settles slowly in water.
Red Chilli Powder Sprinkle some Chilli powder on the surface of water in a glass beaker. Artificial colorants will descend as
Red Colour dye
colored streaks.

Source: (www.dixitsitaram.itgo.com).

Proximate analysis of a foodstuff can also indicates the extent overcoming the problem:
of abstraction for the main components; moisture, fat, protein, The primary approach consists of determining the ratio
carbohydrates, fiber, and ash. However, proximate analysis of between some chemical constituents and assumes these ratios
adulterated food alone cannot answer problems of authenticity or are a constant component of the particular food.
speciation. This may be because, combination both qualitative Searching for a specific marker in the product, which could
and quantitative analysis of foods are important to be used for be a chemical constituent (complexes molecules, nucleic acids)
detection of adulteration of food ingredients and products (i.e., to or morphological component (plant cells), that proves either
authenticate the food ingredient or product) [22]. Predominantly, the adulteration or authenticity of the food is another
adulteration can be detected from the presence of minor alternative approach.
components that occur in the adulterant and not in the food itself. The other method consists of using analytical techniques
Trace chemical analysis is indispensable to evaluate the purity. derived from physical analysis by considering the whole of the
Data banks of authentic values that account for seasonal, regional sample to show the effects of the adulteration on the
or other variation may support authenticity testing in some cases physicochemical properties of the sample.
(fruit juices for example). Detection of food adulterant is more The different detection methods can be categorized as
difficult when both adulterant and the food its self have physical and chemical method as elaborated below. Here
approximately the same chemical formula [9]. If this is a case, under, example of analytical methods used for the detection of
there are different approaches to detecting adulterants by adulteration is listed in table form.
Table 4. Analytical methods of detection.

Products Common adulterants Common detection methods

Berry jam Addition of cheaper berries HPLC
Fruit juice Dilution with water °Brix
Meat Addition of cheaper meat Electrophoresis, immunoassay
Vegetable oil Addition of cheaper seed oil Chromatography & mass spectroscopy
Natural aroma non-natural aroma Chiral chromatography
Natural vanilla extract Addition of artificial vanilla IRMS and SNIF-NMR
Soybean Genetic modification DNA methods

Source: [9].
 International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2020; 9(3): 86-94 93

7.2. Physical Methods coriander, chilies, and cloves lead to easy detection of
extraneous starch in these powdered spices [13].
There are various physical methods for detection of In grain, detection of adulteration with different impurities
adulteration including microscopic and macroscopic visual (dust, stones, straw, weed seeds, damaged grain, weevil grain,
structural analysis as well as analysis of food by analyzing the insects, rodent hair and excreta and etc) could be detected by
physical parameters like morphology, texture, solubility, bulk taking small quantity of sample in a glass plate and examining
density etc. have been designed but these methods do not the impurities visually because, pure food grains will not have
guarantee quantitative adulterant detection [7]. For instance, any such impurities.
microscopic examination of some spices namely cumin,

Source: http://foodsmart.fssai.gov.in/DART.pdf.
Figure 4. Detection of grains adulterated with impurities.

7.3. Sensory Methods tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or

food packaging, or false or misleading statements made
Traditionally, sensory methods have been employed in about a product for economic gain. All most all food
detecting some adulteration. Sensory methods however have not categories including milk, honey, butter, oil, cereals, pulses
been incorporated yet into legislation for the detection of food and etc. are prone to adulteration as indicated by different
adulteration, although routine analysis of a sample always authors. The adulterated foods are made in the way that they
includes the examination of its organoleptic characteristics. can attract consumers so that; better price could be fetch
International organizations such as the International Standards from. However, the issue is, these foods may be adulterated
Organization (ISO), American Society for Testing Materials in order to make them appealing types. These adulterations
(ASTM), and others have developed and recommended sensory have many public health and economic implications.
methods for foods in general and for particular commodities [24]. Different mechanisms of detecting adulteration are available
Such methods are useful in trade (e.g., grading of goods) and the ranging from chemical and instrumental analysis to sensory
management of resources. Moreover, the US Food and Drug methods. Control of food adulteration needs attentions of
Administration (FDA) has accepted results of sensory panel tests different stake holder.
as prima facie evidence of product efficacy, and in some cases, In conclusion, adulteration in developing country like ours
legal decisions in the USA have relied exclusively upon sensory is serious problem as there are less strong regulatory bodies
evaluation data. The limitations concerning the application of unlike developed world. This is why there are limited reports
sensory methods for the detection of adulteration are subjectivity in our country Ethiopia concerning the issue as can be
of judgment and though it have fewer limitations that understood from the review. There might be multiple factors
multivariate statistical techniques are employed ([24] and [27]). contributing to this like economic problems common in
With these methods, sensory data are better evaluated, and more developing countries which may lead to lack of facility for
reliable conclusions can be drawn. For example, the results of detection, awareness and small number of professionals with
Free-choice Profiling tests can be analyzed by the Generalized the discipline. Thus, much is expected to be done with
Procrustes method. The latter adjusts for several types of adulteration in this country.
variation in the way each panelist describes samples and then
manipulates the data to combine terms that appear to measure the
same characteristics. Such an approach has been meaningfully 9. Future Line of Work
applied to classify coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages [24]. Different authors across the world have published their
research work on the area of adulteration. Nevertheless, the
8. Summary and Conclusion area in our country, Ethiopia needs more and more efforts to
identify different food products in our country that are prone
Food fraud is the deliberate substitution, addition, to adulteration and recommend respective control measures.
94 Misgana Banti: Food Adulteration and Some Methods of Detection, Review

More research is needed on the detection methods of canteens of educational institutes and public places in
adulteration in indigenous foods like injera and others. That Faisalabad. J Animal Plant Sci, 23 (1), pp. 119-24.
means, more methods need to be developed, validated and [13] Food safety & standards authority of india (FSSAI), 2010
approved specially those which are simple and easy to (ministry of health & family welfare) fda bhavan, kotla road,
undertake. Awareness creation for the community, food value new delhi – 110 002 website: www.fssai.gov.in
chain stakeholders and different organizations and agencies [14] Khapre MP, Mudey A, Chaudhary S, Wagh V, Dawale A.,
responsible about health implication of adulteration and the 2011. Buying Practices and Prevalence of Adulteration in
like must be done. Selected Food items in a Rural Area of Wardha District: A
Cross - Sectional Study. Online J Health Allied Scs. 2011; 10
(3): 4
References [15] Kohda, Y. and Haque, I., 2017. Knowledge and Perception
about Food Adulteration Problem among School Children in
[1] Alauddin S (2012). Food adulteration and society. Global BangladeshIffat Haque. European Journal of Public Health, 27
research analysis international. Vol. 1 (7), pp 3-5. (suppl_3).
[2] Anita, G. and Neetu, S., 2013. Hazards of New Technology [16] Lakshmi, V., 2012. Food adulteration. International Journal of
in Promoting Food Adulteration. Journal of Environmental Science Inventions Today, 1 (2), ppt. 106-113.
Science, Toxicology and Food Technology, 5 (1), pp.
08-10. [17] Laura Schumm, 2014 Food Fraud: A Brief History of the
Adulteration of Food
[3] Awasthi, S., Jain, K., Das, A., Alam, R., Surti, G. and Kishan,
N., 2014. Analysis of Food quality and Food Adulterants from [18] Manasha, M. Janani, 2016. Food adulteration and its problems
Different Departmental & Local Grocery Stores by Qualitative (intentional, accidental and natural food adulteration).
Analysis for Food Safety. J Env Sci Toxicol Food Technol, 8 (2), International Journal of Research in Finance & Marketing 6
pp. 22-26. (4): 131-140
[4] Asrat, A. and Yilma, Z., 2014. Patterns of milk and milk [19] Mansuri, Z. (2011). Study of adulterants in foods. Delhi, India.
products adulteration in Boditti town and its surrounding,
South Ethiopia. J Agric Sci, 4 (10), pp. 512-6. [20] Matute, A. I., Soria, A. C., Martínez-Castro, I. and Sanz, M. L.,
2007. A new methodology based on GC− MS to detect honey
[5] Asrat, A. and Ermias, B., E., 2015. Food Adulteration: Its adulteration with commercial syrups. Journal of agricultural
Challenges and Impacts. Food Science and Quality and food chemistry, 55 (18), pp. 7264-7269.
Management, pp. 50-56.
[21] Nielsen, S. S., 2010. Food Analysis, Food Science Texts Series,
[6] Ayalew, H., Birhanu, A. and Asrade, B. (2013). Review on food DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1478-1_6,. Fourth Edition ed.
safety system: Ethiopian perspective. Afr. J. Food Sci. 7 (12): Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA: Springer.
431-440.
[22] Raju, K., Shobham, A. R. and MK, S., 2017. Qualitative
[7] Bansal, S., Apoorva, S., Manisha, M., Anupam, K M. and Detection of Some Adulterants in Milk Samples Supplied in the
Sanjiv, K., 2015. Food Adulteration: Sources, Health Risks and Twin Cities of Secunderabad and Hyderabad, Telangana.
Detection Methods. Critical Reviews in Food Science and
Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2014.967834 [23] Tsimidou, M. and Boskou, D., 2003. Adulteration of
foods/Detection 47.
[8] Biresaw, A. D., Woldemariam, H. W. and Abera, B. D., 2015.
The Extent of Adulteration of Selected Foods at Bahir Dar, [24] Vasireddi, 2013. Food Adulteration & Control Mechanism; At
Ethiopia. the Workshop on Food Defense Awareness for Food Business
Operators and Exporters February 5, 2013 – Hyderabad
[9] Cordella, C., Moussa, I., Martel, A. C., Sbirrazzuoli, N. and
Lizzani-Cuvelier, L., 2002. Recent developments in food [25] World Health Organization, 2017. Ten chemicals of major
characterization and adulteration detection: technique-oriented public health concern. Available from URL:
perspectives. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 50 http://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/chemicals_
(7), pp. 1751-1764. phc/en/

[10] Deepti Narayan, 2014, Food adulteration-Types, worldwide [26] Xue, H. Y., Hu, W. W., Son, H., Han, Y. and Yang, Z. Y., 2010.
lows and future Category: Healthcare Views: 20277 Indirect ELISA for detection and quantification of bovine milk
in goat milk. Food Sci, 31, pp. 370-373.
[11] El-Loly, M., Mansour, A. I. A. and Ahmed, R. O., 2013.
Evaluation of Raw Milk for Common Commercial Additives [27] Fiorino, G. M., Garino, C., Arlorio, M., Logrieco, A. F., Losito,
and Heat Treatments. Internet Journal of Food Safety, 15: I. and Monaci, L., 2018. Overview on untargeted methods to
7-10. combat food frauds: a focus on fishery products. Journal of
food quality, 2018.
[12] Faraz, A., Lateef, M., Mustafa, M. I., Akhtar, P., Yaqoob, M.
and Rehman, S., 2013. Detection of adulteration, chemical [28] Mahindru, S. N., 2013. Food preservation and irradiation.
composition and hygienic status of milk supplied to various APH Publishing.