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 Common Adulterants/Contaminants

in food and Simple screening tests for their detection

 

          Adulteration in food is normally present in its most crude form, prohibited substances are either added or partly or wholly substituted.  In India normally the contamination/adulteration in food is done either for financial gain or due to carelessness and lack in proper hygienic condition of processing, storing, transportation and marketing. This ultimately results that the consumer is either cheated or often become victim of diseases. Such types of adulteration are quite common in developing countries or backward countries. However, adequate precautions taken by the consumer at the time of purchase of such produce can make him alert to avoid procurement of such food. It is equally important for the consumer to know the common adulterants and their effect on health.

 

Injurious Adulterants/Contaminants in Foods and their Health Effects

 

S.No	Adulterant	Foods Commonly Involved	Diseases or Health Effects
	Adulterants in food
1	Argemone seeds Argemone oil	Mustard seeds Edible oils and fats	Epidemic dropsy, Glaucoma, Cardiac arrest
2	Artificially coloured foreign seeds	As a substitute for cumin seed, Poppy seed, black pepper	Injurious to health
3	Foreign leaves or exhausted tea leaves, saw dust artificially coloured	Tea	Injurious to health, cancer
4	TCP	Oils	Paralysis
5	Rancid oil	Oils	Destroys vitamin A and E
6	Sand, marble chips, stones, filth	Food grains, pulses etc.	Damage digestive tract
7	Lathyrus sativus	Khesari dal alone or Mixed in other pulses	Lathyrism (crippling spastic paraplegia)
	Chemical Contamination
8	Mineral oil (white oil, petroleum fractions)	Edible oils and fats, Black pepper	Cancer
9	Lead  chromate	Turmeric whole and powdered, mixed spices	Anemia, abortion, paralysis, brain damage
10	Methanol	Alcoholic liquors	Blurred vision, blindness, death
11	Arsenic	Fruits such as apples sprayed over with lead arsenate	Dizziness, chills, cramps, paralysis, death
12	Barium	Foods contaminated by rat poisons (Barium  carbonate)	Violent peristalisis, arterial hypertension, muscular twitching, convulsions, cardiac disturbances
13	Cadmium	Fruit juices, soft drinks, etc. in contact with cadmium plated vessels or equipment. Cadmium contaminated water and shell-fish	'Itai-itai (ouch-ouch) disease, Increased salivation, acute gastritis, liver and kidney damage, prostrate cancer
14	Cobalt	Water, liquors	Cardiac insufficiency and mycocardial failure
15	Lead	Water, natural and processed food	Lead poisoning (foot-drop, insomnia, anemia, constipation, mental retardation, brain damage)
16	Copper	Food	Vomiting, diarrhoea
17	Tin	Food	Colic, vomiting
18	Zinc	Food	Colic, vomiting
19	Mercury	Mercury fungicide treated seed grains or mercury contaminated fish	Brain damage, paralysis, death
NOTE : Safe limits have been prescribed for above metals in different food.. Continuous use of food contaminated with these metals beyond safe limits may cause these diseases
	Bacterial contamination
20	Bacillus cereus	Cereal products, custards, puddings, sauces	Food infection (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
21	Salmonella spp.	Meat and meat products, raw vegetables, salads, shell-fish, eggs and egg products, warmed-up leftovers	Salmonellosis (food infection usually with fever and chills)
22	Shigella sonnei	Milk, potato, beans, poultry, tuna, shrimp, moist mixed foods	Shigellosis (bacillary dysentery)
23	Staphylococcus aureus Entero-toxins-A,B,C,D or E	Dairy products, baked foods especially custard or cream-filled foods, meat and meat products, low-acid frozen foods, salads, cream sauces, etc.	Increased salivation, vomiting, abdominal cramp, diarrhoea, severe thirst, cold sweats, prostration
24	Clostridium botulinus toxins A,B,E or F	Defectively canned low or medium-acid foods; meats, sausages, smoked vacuum-packed fish, fermented food etc.	Botulism (double vision, muscular paralysis, death due to respiratory failure)
25	Clostridium.perfringens (Welchii) type A	Milk improperly processed or canned meats, fish and gravy stocks	Nausea, abdominal pains, diarrhoea, gas formation
26	Diethyl stilbestrol (additive in animal feed)	Meat	Sterlites, fibroid tumors etc.
27	3,4 Benzopyrene	Skoked food	Cancer
28	Excessive solvent residue	Solvent extracted oil, oil cake etc.	Carcinogenic effect
29	Non-food grade or contaminated packing material	Food	Blood clot, angiosarcoma, cancer etc.
30	Non-permitted colour or permitted food colour beyond safe limit	Coloured food	Mental retardation, cancer and other toxic effect.
31	BHA and BHT beyond safe limit	Oils and fats	Allergy, liver damage, increase in serum chloresterol etc.
32	Monosodium glutamate(flour) (beyond safe limit)	Chinese food, meat and meat products	Brain damage, mental retardation in infants
33	Coumarin and dihydro coumarin	Flavoured food	Blood anticoagulant
34	Food flavours beyond safe limit	Flavoured food	Chances of liver cancer
35	Brominated vegetable oils	Cold drinks	Anemia, enlargement of heart
36	Sulphur dioxide and sulphite beyond safe limit	In variety of food as preservative	Acute irritation of the gastro-intestinal tracts etc.
37	Artificial sweetners beyond safe limit	Sweet foods	Chances of cancer
	Fungal contamination
38	Aflatoxins	Aspergillus flavus-contaminated foods such as groundnuts, cottonseed, etc.	Liver damage and cancer
39	Ergot alkaloids from Claviceps purpurea Toxic alkaloids, ergotamine, ergotoxin and ergometrine groups	Ergot-infested bajra, rye meal or bread	Ergotism (St.Anthony's fire-burning sensation in extremities, itching of skin, peripheral gangrene)
40	Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichioides	Grains (millet, wheat, oats, rye,etc)	Alimentary toxic aleukia(ATA) (epidemic panmyelotoxicosis)
41	Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichiella	Moist grains	Urov disease (Kaschin-Beck disease)
42	Toxins from Penicillium inslandicum Penicillium atricum, Penicillium citreovirede, Fusarium, Rhizopus, Aspergillus	Yellow rice	Toxic mouldy rice disease
43	Sterigmatocystin from Aspergillus versicolour Aspergillus nidulans and bipolaris	Foodgrains	Hepatitis
44	Ascaris lumbricoides	Any  raw food or water contaminated by human faces containing eggs of the parasite	Ascariasis
45	Entamoeba histolytica Viral	Raw vegetables and fruits	Amoebic dysentery
46	Virus of infectious Hepatitis (virus A)	Shell-fish, milk, unheated foods contaminated with faeces, urine and blood of infected human	Infectious hepatitis
47	Machupo virus	Foods contaminated with rodents urine, such as cereals	Bolivian haemorrhagic fever
	Natural Contamination
48	Flouride	Drinking water, sea foods, tea, etc..	Excess fluoride causes fluorosis (mottling of teeth, skeletal  and neurological disorders)
49	Oxalic acid	Spinach, amaranth, etc.	Renal calculi, cramps, failure of blood to clot
50	Gossypol	Cottonseed flour and cake	Cancer
51	Cyanogenetic compounds	Bitter almonds, apple seeds, cassava, some beans etc.	Gastro-intestinal disturbances
52	Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons(PAH)	Smoked fish, meat, mineral oil-contaminated water, oils, fats and fish, especially shell-fish	Cancer
53	Phalloidine (Alkaloid)	Toxic mushrooms	Mushroom poisoning (Hypoglycemia, convulsions, profuse watery stools, severe necrosis of liver leading to hepatic failure and death)
54	Solanine	Potatoes	Solanine poisoning (vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
55	Nitrates and Nitrites	Drinking water, spinach rhubarb, asparagus, etc. and meat products	Methaemoglobinaemia especially in infants, cancer and tumours in the liver, kidney, trachea oesophagus and lungs. The liver is the initial site but afterwards tumours appear in other organs.
56	Asbestos (may be present  intalc, Kaolin, etc. and in processed foods)	Polished rice, pulses, processed foods containing anti-caking agents, etc.	Absorption in particulate form by the body may produce cancer
57	Pesticide residues (beyond safe limit)	All types of food	Acute or chronic poisoning with damage to nerves and vital organs like liver, kidney, etc.
58	Antibiotics (beyond safe limit)	Meats from antibiotic-fed animals	Multiple drug resistance hardening of arteries, heart disease

 

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