Detection of Adulteration in milk using capacitor sensor, with an especial focus on Electrical properties of the milk.

Marut Dev Sharma,Basam Koteswararao,Dr Parmod Kumar,Dinku Worku

doi:10.3390/ecsa-7-08254

Abstract

With the growth of population, the demand of milk is increasing at very fast rate. Due to this increasing demand, adulteration of milk by various substances has been very common in throughout the world, which not only reduces the nutritional value but also causes various diseases to human being. The common adulterants used in adulteration are detergents, ammonium sulphate [(NH4)SO4], sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium-bi-carbonate (NaHCO3) ,common salt (NaCl) and fat. The aim of this paper is to identify / detect the minimum detectable limit for the above six adulterants in the milk. A capacitor sensor is used, which is sensitive to an electrical property ( Relative Permittivity ) of the measuring medium and gives different dielectric loss angle of the milk sample under measurement, when sensor is immersed in different adulterated/unadulterated milk. The tangent of dielectric loss angle (tan Delta) is measured by Schering Bridge. By this sensor measurement system, detection of adulterants in milk with different % (from 5% to 20%) is studied. Packet milk and raw-milk (directly collected from the milk collection center) are used for the experiment. Experimental results of various adulteration levels are plotted for verification of the result and to check the data consistency.

Highlights

Milk is a vital nutrient source which is required for infant’s growth and children and a major supplement for the health of adults
The adulteration is done with a purpose of financial gain or improper and unhygienic processing conditions, storage, transportation and marketing
Through our tests it’s clear that milk is not as it should be there for the consumers. It is being adulterated with water, skim milk powder, detergents, salt, urea which have harmful impact on human health

Summary

Introduction

Milk is a vital nutrient source which is required for infant’s growth and children and a major supplement for the health of adults. Milk is a complete diet, which is absorbed and digestible. It is a god gifted natural food for infants and children. These days it is being adulterated with harmful substances which enhance its quantity and characteristics but reduces its quality [11]. The adulteration is done with a purpose of financial gain or improper and unhygienic processing conditions, storage, transportation and marketing. This solely affects the consumer which is either cheated or becomes a prey for diseases. The consumer consumes adulterated milk which is Proceedings 2020, 4, x; doi: FOR PEER REVIEW www.mdpi.com/journal/proceedings

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