User:Reenakdm/sandbox

ADULTERANT
An 'adulterant' is a pejorative term for a substance found within other substances such as food, fuels or chemicals, although it should not be present for some reason. It will not normally be present in any specification or declared contents of the substance, and may not be legally allowed. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration. The most common reason for adulteration is the use by manufacturers of undeclared materials that are cheaper than the correct and declared ones. The adulterants may be harmful, or reduce the potency of the product, or they may be harmless.

The term "contamination" is usually used for the inclusion of unwanted substances due to accident or negligence rather than intent, and also for the introduction of unwanted substances after the product has been made. Adulteration therefore implies that the adulterant was introduced deliberately in the initial manufacturing process, or sometimes that it was present in the raw materials and should have been removed, but was not.

An adulterant is distinct from, for example, permitted food additives. There can be a fine line between adulterant and additive; chicory may be added to coffee to reduce the cost or achieve a desired flavour—this is adulteration if not declared, but may be stated on the label. Chalk was often added to bread flour; this reduces the cost and increases whiteness, but the calcium actually confers health benefits, and in modern bread a little chalk may be included as an additive for this reason.

In wartime adulterants have been added to make foodstuffs "go further" and prevent shortages. The German word ersatz is widely recognised from such practices during WW2. Such adulteration was sometimes deliberately hidden from the population to prevent loss of morale and propaganda reasons. Some goods considered luxurious in the Communist Bloc such as coffee were adulterated to make them affordable to the general population.

Adulterants added to reduce the amount of expensive product in illicit drugs are called cutting agents. Deliberate addition of toxic adulterants to food or other products for human consumption is poisoning.

intentional adulterants
Intentional adulteration is the act of adding, removing substances to food or altering the existing natural properties of food knowingly. The Government of India records indicate that on an average 25 to 30% of edibles sold in the market are adulterated. Some examples of intentional adulteration are addition of water to liquid milk, extraneous matter to ground spices, or the removal or substitution of milk solids from the natural product.

unintentional adulterants
Unintentional adulteration is usually attributed to ignorance, carelessness or lack of facilities for maintaining food quality. This kind of adulteration results from pesticide and insect residues or microorganisms entering the food right from the farm through other stages leading to the customer.

natural adulterants
This occurs due to the presence of certain chemicals, organic compounds or radicals naturally occurring in foods which are injurious to health and are not added to the foods intentionally or unintentionally. Some of the examples are toxic varieties of pulses, mushrooms, green and other vegetables, fish and sea foods. About 5000 species of marine fish are known to be poisonous and many of these are among edible varieties.

1. Milk Adulterants
In India, which is the land of cows, large quantities of milk are adulterated. Milk adulteration involves adding water to milk and removing the beneficial fats from milk. Often soya milk, starch, groundnut milk, and wheat flour are added to milk. This makes the milk less nutritious and it results in milk being useless for the consumer.

2.Adulterants of Fats and Oils
It is easy to adulterate oils and fats. But it is difficult to detect such adulteration. Ghee is often mixed with hydrogenated oils and animal fats. Synthetic colours and flavours are added to other fats to make them appear like ghee.

3.Food Grain Adulterants
Food grain adulteration involves mixing sand or crushed stones to increase the weight of food grains. Cereal grains and pulses are mixed with plastic beads that resemble grains in colour and size. Very often, water is also sprayed on grains to increase the weight.

4.Other Adulterants
Chilli powder is often mixed with brick powder,while tea leaves are often mixed with used tea leaves. These Adulterants are very harmful to the consumer and they should be addressed by consumer organizations and consumers seriously.

Adulterants And Its Harmful Effects
Metanil yellow, a non -permitted color is a common adulterant in food items like laddu, turdaland turmeric which causes tumor and cancer.

With chalk powder and white sand cause stomach disorder.

With used tea leaves, dye or artificial colour, iron fillings which causes Cancer, tetanus.

Chilli powder : Sudan red,Red brick powder, grit, sand, dirt, non -permitted colors and saw dust which causes Stomach disorder, sudan dye is carsinogenic.

Food safety
Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. In this way Food Safety often overlaps with Food Defense to prevent harm to consumers. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry to market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer.

Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries the main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item.[1] In theory, food poisoning is 100% preventable.

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