Main Adulterants Research Articles

Cocaine and heroin adulterants

BackgroundHealth centres have many opportunities to improve community health. One of them is to give information among drug users about the adulterants of the substances that they will consume with...

Isolation and structural elucidation of abietic acid as the main adulterant in an herbal drug for the treatment of psoriasis

An herbal drug for the treatment of psoriasis showed severe clinical adverse reactions. The main component of adulterant was isolated from the drug and its chemical structure was elucidated as abietic acid using NMR, HR-MS, and HPLC-DAD-MS. Although abietic acid had ever been used in clinical study for the treatment of psoriasis, it is not an approved drug. Its adulteration is very dangerous for the patients.

Knowledge of consumers regarding the nature and extent of adulteration of Indian foods.

The present study was carried out on 60 women consumers selected from three different localities of Hisar city in India to study their knowledge regarding adulteration and detecting adulterants in commonly used food items. The post exposure correct responses of the respondents increased remarkably as 100.0 percent of the respondents gave correct responses regarding statements on adulteration of spices and condiments, the most common adulterated food item and to when and whom they could approach for making complaints about adulterated foods. Similarly, the respondents gained considerable knowledge regarding adulterants generally present in milk, legumes and definition of food adulteration. All the food samples except gene collected from the households of the respondents were found to be adulterated. The main adulterants in milk was water (70.0 percent); turmeric powder contained chalk powder (43.3 percent); chillies powder had artificial colour (100.0 percent); essential oils were removed from cardamom (36.6 percent); green gram and urd bean had water soluble colours; chick pea flour had artificial colours (70.0 percent) and chalk powder was present in sugar (36.6 percent). A kit was developed, tested and given to the housewives so that they could detect adulterants in commonly used food items at the household level.

Advances in adulteration and authenticity testing of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.)

Synthetic colorants such as metanil yellow, lead chromate, Acid orange 7, Sudan red; rhizomes of related Curcuma sp. besides spent turmeric, starch, chalk and yellow soapstone are the main adulterants in traded turmeric while synthetic curcumin is an adulterant of natural curcumin. Both branded products as well as the produce from the unorganized sector are found adulterated. The adulterants, added either to increase the bulk, improve the colour and appearance or enhance the profit margin, often result in corroding the biological efficacy of the commodity and eroding the public impression besides posing health risks to the consumers. Various physical, chemical and PCR based methods are available to detect the adulterants in traded turmeric. While chemical methods are suited to detect the synthetic adulterants and spent turmeric, DNA based methods are the best options for detecting the biological adulterants (except spent turmeric) in the commodity. Along with adopting a supply chain system and quality linked pricing in turmeric trade, commercial adulteration diagnostic kits, if they can be developed and deployed, will be a very convenient way to ensure the quality of the traded produce.