Adulterant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An adulterant is a chemical substance which should not be contained within other substances
(eg. food, beverages, fuels for legal or other reasons). Adulterants may be intentionally added to more
expensive substances to increase visible quantities and reduce manufacturing costs, or for some other
deceptive or malicious purpose. Adulterants may also be accidentally or unknowingly introduced into
substances. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration.

The word is only appropriate when the additions are unwanted by the recipient, otherwise the
expression would be food additive. Adulterants when used in illicit drugs are called cutting agents,
while deliberate addition of toxic adulterants to food or other products for human consumption is
known as poisoning.

In food and beverages

Examples of adulteration include:

 Mogdad coffee, whose seeds have been used as an adulterant for coffee
 Roasted chicory roots, whose seeds have been used similarly, starting during
the Napoleonic era in France (and continuing until today as a moderately popular additive for
cheaper coffee)
 Roasted ground peas, beans, or wheat, which have been used to adulterate
roasted chicory
 Diethylene glycol, used by some winemakers to fake sweet wines
 Oleomargarine or lard, added to butter
 Rapeseed oil, commonly added to sunflower oil and soybean oil, brassicasterol being a
marker of its presence
 Rye flour, corn meal or potato starch, used to dilute more expensive flours; alum is also
added to disguise usage of lower-quality flour
 Apple jellies, as substitutes for more expensive fruit jellies, with added colorant and
sometimes even specks of wood that simulate strawberry seeds
 Artificial colorants, often toxic - e.g., copper, zinc, or indigo-based green dyes added
to absinthe
 Sudan I yellow color, added to chili powder, as well as Sudan Red for red color
 Water, for diluting milk and beer and hard drinks
 Low quality black tea, marketed as higher quality tea
  Starch, added to sausages
 Cutting agents, often used to adulterate (or "cut") illicit drugs - for example, shoe polish in
solid cannabis
 Urea, melamine and other non-protein nitrogen sources, added to protein products in
order to inflate crude protein content measurements[1]
 Powdered beechnut husk aromatized with cinnamic aldehyde, marketed as
powdered cinnamon.
 High fructose corn syrup or cane sugar, used to adulterate honey; C4 sugars serve as
markers, as detected by carbon isotopic signatures[1]
 Glutinous rice coloring made of hazardous industrial dyes, as well as tinopal to make rice
noodles whiter (to serve as bleach)[2]
 Noodles, meat, fish, tofu preserved with formaldehyde in tropical Asia, to prevent
spoilage from the sun[2]

THE DICTIONARY meaning of ’adulteration’ is ’The process of making food or drink less pure by
adding another substance to it’.

Adulteration implies basically in context of eatables but what if it creeps into the deep rooted
culture, ethics, traditions and social values of a nation? We eat food to satisfy our hunger. Adultered
food harms our health. Same way social ethics, culture, values, traditions are the mainstream
identity of a nation. A nation relies and depends on this basic factor for its true existence. Whenever
there is an invasion of external factors, the originality deteriorates and this deterioration reflects
through the mindset of people. It leads to a perverted approach in every arena of our society and
results in inevitable despondency in every field.

India got its independence through die hard and determined efforts shouldered by stalwarts of
independence. Post independence too, founders of our independence made sure of retaining their
originality by sticking to their pre-independence principles and values.

But later, this hampered progress of our country and it was realised that without inclusion as well as
competition with foreign policies, progress can’t be achieved. No doubt it helped our country to
stand with developed superpowers of the world. But as we know that every coin has its too faces. In
the wake of this development process untold and unnoticed evil factors gradually creeped into the
basic Indian mindset and taken a heavy toll of our social values.

When government adopted the open policy in 1990, ie, allowing foreign investment in India, then
nobody has envisaged for its damaging repercussions. Today, to celebrate our festival Diwali, we
are tend to buy China made Ganesh-Lakshmi idols and lightings bulbs, as our markets are flooded
with such foreign made stuff.

Indian citizens are facing new challenges in the globalisation arena. The westernisation of Indian
culture is giving serious effect ans worries to the Indian society. The westernisation is giving big
stress to the new generation leading to homosexuality, pre-martial sex affairs, living relationships,
leading towards the consumption of dangerous drugs, new level of crimes in need of unnecessary
lifestyle with routine spending and overheads etc.

Many of such cases are leading to destroying the lives of Indian youth. The work pressures, the
time pressures, the overburden, the stretched working timings are leading to the serious health
problems of our youth.

The youth is unable to spare the valuable time for their parents, grandparents and their own
children. Most of the youth is affected with serious diseases before running into 40’s like blood
pressure, diabetics etc.

With globalisation inevitably comes ’macdonalisation’ of the local society. American music threatens
to replace Indian music. Food eaten there becomes the food in India. Even their likes and dislikes
become ours.

Globalisation may cause ’cultural colonalisation’ of the country. The question is, what will happen to
us in the process? We may become a faded copy of foreign culture.

India must be protected from such invisible damages. It should be the responsibility of country’s
public administration to neutralise such threat. It is the first line responsibility of legislature and
bureaucracy to frame policies needed for our development as well as to take care of our
sovereignty.

Indian government should take some encouraging steps immediately to tackle the above cited
matters and lay tough rules on employment, wages, working hours, employee welfare etc, to save
our youth from the threat.

I strongly visualise the aftermaths of the above over the period of two to three decades, which will
run into mega divorce cases in marital life, loosing cultural values, becoming more and more
psychic patients, committing suicides etc.

We have to save our cultural and moral values, which I believe is most important in the country’s
growth.

"Adulteration" is a legal term meaning that a food product fails to meet federal or state
standards. Adulteration usually refers to noncompliance with health or safety standards as
determined, in the United States, by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Contaminated foods and drinks are common sources of infection. Among the
more common infections that one can get from contaminated foods and drinks
are typhoid feverEscherichia coliinfections, shigellosis or bacillary dysentery,
giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, other salmonelloses, cholera, rotavirus infections,
also a variety of worm infestations. Many of the infectious diseases transmitted
in food and water can also be acquired directly through the faecal-oral route.

Food adulteration
Food adulteration is 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 coloured or otherwise treated, to improve its appearance or if it
contains any added substance injurious to health

Food-preservatives have a very extensive use, which often constitutes

adulteration. Salt is the classic preservative, but is seldom classified as an
adulterant. Salicylic, benzoic, and boric acids, and their sodium salts,
formaldehyde, ammonium fluoride, sulphurous acid and its salts are among the
principal preservatives. Many of these appear to be innocuous, but there is
danger that the continued use of food preserved by these agents may be
injurious. Some preservatives have been conclusively shown to be injurious
when used for long periods.

To avoid illness, one is advised to select foods with care. All raw foods must be
checked for contamination particularly in areas where hygiene and sanitation
are inadequate. One is advised to avoid salads, uncooked vegetables, and
unpasteurised milk and milk products such as cheese, and to eat only food that
has been cooked and is still hot. Undercooked and raw meat, fish, and shellfish
can carry various intestinal pathogens. Cooked food that has been allowed to
stand for several hours at ambient temperature can provide a fertile medium for
bacterial growth and should be thoroughly reheated before serving.
Consumption of food and beverages obtained from street food vendors has
been associated with an increased risk of illness.