Some simple tests to check oil, honey, sugar and other items for adulteration
A simple Google search can show you multiple news items reporting adulteration in commonly consumed foods like milk, spices, sugar and others. Long supply chains make it impossible to track where your food comes from, but some easy-to-perform quality tests can reveal the presence of some frequent adulterants.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has released a booklet of such simple home tests which to check the quality of daily use food products.
Earlier, Down To Earth published a list of tests for milk, a food item often found to be substandard. In the second article in the series, learn to test oil, sugar and honey.
Detecting sugar solution in honey
Detecting chalk powder in sugar
Detecting other oils as adulterants in coconut oil
Tests are sourced from FSSAI's booklet "DART".
Related Story:
How to check if your milk is adulterated
Tax on sugar-sweetened drinks in Mexico associated with drop in sales, says study
‘Pesticides, antibiotic use and ultra-processing threaten food safety in India’
IEP Resources:
Potassium Bromate or Potassium Iodate in Bread
Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Adulterated Milk Products, 01/03/2016
Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2014
Caffeine content in energy drinks
FSSAI advisory on standards for honey and prohibition of antibiotics
The Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955
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