10 food condiments you never knew were adulterated

In this growing, industrialized world with a plethora of products at one’s finger tips, there is never knowing how food is manufactured, packed and sold. There is the natural, farm grown vegetables and then there is the various other items which may or may not have come from small time villages like chillie powder or cumin seeds perhaps. But the question is, how many of these daily foods that we consume could have adulterants added in them just to make them look better, smell better or even perhaps taste better? Specialfoodz solves all that for you.

Here-under is a list of 10 most commonly adulterated foods that people are probably not aware of.

1.    Ghee/Clarified Butter – Yes, my dears. It might come as a shock to you but most brands of ghee, even the popular ones are adulterated. Imagine finding out that one of the very familiar house hold brands, Vanaspathi, was using cow and pig lard to make ghee! This news was all the rage that was about a couple of years back. But we do know for a fact that ghee continues to be on top of the list for containing adulterants. Common adulterants used in ghee are refined vegetable oils like coconut or groundnut, hydrogenated fats, cotton seed oil and animal body fat. One of the obvious reasons for these adulterants being added is the fact that the market prices for Ghee is three times the above mentioned oils.

2.    Haldiram’s Snacks – Your favorite evening for any occasion has trouble brewing. The U.S Food and Drug Administration has openly claimed that Haldiram’s Snacks contain pesticides due to which it’s import to the U.S has been rejected for shipment. You might want to think twice before buying another Aloo Bhujiya the next time you visit the stores.

3.     Britannia Biscuits – You may well scoff at this news in disbelief but legitimate sources also claim Britannia Biscuits to be adulterated as the labelling confirms to the fact that it does not have enough nutrition information to pass of as a safe food to be consumed.

4.    Ferrero India – If you love the Ferrero Rocher chocolates from overseas and prefer it to the Indian version, this news will not necessarily put you off. But these delicious bits of chocolate and nuts and specifically the ‘Milk and Cocoa spreads’ that is manufactured and sold in India seems to have fallen into murky waters as they also come under a growing list of products that are adulterated.

5.    Kellogg’s Special K Red Berries – You ain’t loosing no weight with these berries, you’re probably bringing in more harm than good. Sources claim that this particular product of Kellogg’s is adulterated and is not fit for consumption.

6.    Spices – Most spices residing in your kitchen right now is most probably adulterated. This is done to enhance the color of the spice as well as to add weight to it. Some people might be aware that turmeric powder, (a substance known as ‘metanil yellow’ is added to it) black pepper, chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder are usual victims of adulterations for the same reasons – color, flavor and variety. Even Saffron and salt are known to have adulterants added to them.

7.    Fruits and vegetables – Often vegetable and fruit vendors or the whole sale sellers themselves inject color into fruits and vegetables. Watermelons for example are injected with dark colors to give it a healthy and juicy look to it. Almost all mangoes are filled with pesticides as well as colors to give it color and for it ripen quickly.

8.    Coconut Oil – The Kerala government has banned at least 9 brands due to the adulteration of Coconut oil that is sold by them. Often, cheap oils are used as substitutes and as an addition to coconut oil. Freeze coconut oil in the refrigerator, the water base that forms at the top after the rest of the oil is frozen is the adulterated portion.

9.    Milk – Most of us are aware that the milk we consume everyday could be adulterated. Often, detergent or synthetic substances are added to it as adulterants. Pour some water into the milk, if one sees lather formed at the top of the milk as a layer, the milk contains detergent. If boiling milk will result in a yellow layer formed at the top, the milk is adulterated with synthetic substances.

10. Honey – Another food condiment that is usually found to have been adulterated is honey. It is a known fact, that to get pure, unadulterated honey is a difficult task. Dipping a small ball of cotton into your purchased honey will yield two results.  If the cotton ball burns easily, once it is lit, the honey is pure but if the cotton ball crackles, the honey is adulterated with granulated sugar.