VIVA-Tech International Journal for Research and Innovation Volume 1, Issue 4 (2021) ISSN(Online): 2581-7280 VIVA Institute of Technology 9 th National Conference on Role of Engineers in Nation Building – 2021 (NCRENB-2021) 4 METHODS FOR DETECTION OF COMMON ADULTERANTS IN FOOD Dr.Shwetali K. Churi 1 (Department Of CHEMISTRY, MUMBAI University, MUMBAI-98, VIVA Institute of Technology, India) Email id: skchuri@gmail.com Abstract:Food is essential forliving. Food adulteration deceives consumers and can endanger their health. The purpose of this document is to list common food adulterant methods commonly found in India. An adulterant is a substance found in other substances such as food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fuels, or other chemicals that compromise the safety or effectiveness of that substance. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration. The most common reason for adulteration is the use of undeclared materials by manufacturers that are cheaper than the correct and declared ones. The adulterants can be harmful or reduce the effectiveness of the product, or they can be harmless. Keywords:Adulteration, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fuels, effectiveness. I. INTRODUCTION Generally adulterant is added in any food item to increase its volume, weight etc. as well as to decrease its costing.Some of the most common adulterated foods are milk and dairy products, atta, edible oils, cereals, spices (whole and ground), legumes, coffee, tea, confectionery, baking soda, soft drinks, vinegar, besan, curry powder, etc. In general there are three types of Adulterants: 1) Intentional adulterants: like sand, marble splinters, stones, mud, other dirt, talc, chalk powder, water, mineral oil and harmful colors. 2) Secondary adulterants: e.g. pesticide residues, rodent feces, larvae in food. 3) Metallic impurities: e.g. arsenic from pesticides , Lead from water, waste water from the chemical industry, tin from cans. Adulterants can even be due to mishandling of ingredients as well as improper packaging. Laboratory detection of adulteration in food items includes various methods such as High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for analysis, HPTLC for investigation, GCMC, LCMS-MS for chemical analysis and many more. Such laboratory methods are based on some basic parameters of validation such as accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, specificity and robustness. This methods require various instrumentation which is very costly. Laboratory methods provides us the exact results of adulteration with its various range of risk i.e. high, moderate, less depending upon the percentage of adulteration. Adulteration involves alteration in pH of the material and hence can cause severe problems in a healthy life style. This paper is focused upon the methods of home detection of adulteration in our day to day essential food commodities with available material at home and few laboratory methods for the same. This inhouse methods provides us with the result of purity and impurity, though its percentage for the same cannot be measured, whereas laboratory methods gives accurate percentage wise result with the help of chromatographical detection. The paper also focus on the alteration of pH, its effects and its permissible limits. II. EXPERIMENTAL Adulteration of milk with H2O Such types of adulterants can give rise toother stomach disorders. Testing method:Split milk on a polished slanting surface, Pure milk resist to move or moves slowly leaving a white mark behind.Milk adulterated with water will flow immediately without leaving a mark.