Unadulterated food is but a mirage for consumers. But the scourge of adulteration can be contained if people are a bit watchful and alert to its hazards.
Here are a few tips on how to sort the fresh from the fetid and the pure from the impure.
When buying fish
Sunken, dead, and blue-coloured eyes say the fish is not fresh.
If the gills are bright red, the fish is fresh.
Avoid buying if the catch reeks of chemicals like formalin or ammonia.
Check the dal
Pound a handful of dal, mix with a little warm water, and add a few drops of hydrochloric acid. If it turns pink or purple, you can be sure it's mixed with a dye called Metanil Yellow, harmful in food products.
Adulteration in masala powders
Mix a spoon of masala in a glass of water and add a few drops of iodine mixed with water. If the solution turns blue, be sure your masalas are mixed with starch or are rich in carb sources to jack up the volume.
Contaminated butter, ghee
Melt some ghee or butter. Pour it into a jar and keep in the fridge till it solidifies. If the ghee or butter lies in layers, it’s sure to be mixed with other oils.
Colour in coffee and tea
If tea leaves or dust are mixed with colours, you can watch the colorus going down the glass.
Sprinkle a bit of coffee powder into a glass of water. The good particles always stay on top. If mixed with chicory, they sink to the bottom soon.
Sorting fruits and vegetables
If the banana stem alone looks green, you can smell a rat.
To check for calcium carbide content in mangoes, look for a green colour where the mangoes are kept.
If the mangoes are uniformly yellow, rest assured of carbide presence!
Sugar, oh honey, honey!
Honey is often mixed with sugar syrup
Roll up a bit of cotton lengthwise and dip it in the honey and hold it over a flame. If it burns brightly, the honey is pure. On the contrary, if the flame bursts and spurts, the presence of sugar is there for sure. The spurt occurs because of the presence of water in the sugar syrup.
Colour in foodgrain
Rub some rice in hands that are wet. If the hands turn red and the rice turns white, it's for sure the rice is contaminated with colour.
Pour some lemon extract into rice and if stays red, it's coloured again.
How pure is the milk?
Boil the milk. If it turns pale yellow, tastes mildly bitter and feels jelly-like to the touch, the milk is not pure, but synthetically-made.
