Indian Festivals are incomplete without sweets and as Diwali approaches, the celebration double up with lights and sweets. During festive season, market gets decked up with sweets, leaving the buyers confused about what to buy. While the sweets might bring joy, it also raises alarm about how safe these sweets are to consume which are readily available in the market. There have always been cases where adulterated sweets, khoya, mawa, milk products are being sold in the market openly. Consumers buy those products without even thinking for once. In such case, health of consumers are at risk. While the authorities carry efforts to reduce the sale of adulterated dairy products, by carrying search operation or raid at shops; this doesn’t solve things completely, as the flow of adulterated dairy products still goes on during the festive season. Synthetic ingredients are used by shopkeepers to deceive the buyers. Not just sweets, even milk, paneer and sugar are adulterated during this time.

There are few things that buyers can keep in mind to safeguard themselves from adulterated dairy products and sweets. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued list of few tests that one can conduct to check for adulterants in foods. FSSAI is an organization which regulates the manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import of food articles, while also establishing standards to ensure food safety.

For Milk And Milk Products

Detection Of Water In Milk

Testing method: Put a drop of milk on polished slanting surface, pure milk either stays or flows slowly and leaves a trail, while the adulterated milk will flow immediately without any mark.

Detection of Detergent In Milk

For detecting detergent in milk, take 5-10 ml of milk with an equal amount of water, after that shake the milk properly. If there is detergent in milk, a dense lather will be formed while in the pure milk, a thin layer will be formed.

Detection Of Starch In Milk And Milk Products (Khoya, Chenna, Paneer)

To test starch in milk products, boil 2-3 ml of sample with 3 ml of water. Let it cool down and then add 2-3 drops of tincture of iodine. If the sample turns blue, it indicates presence of starch.

Detection Of Mashed Potatoes, Other Starches In Ghee, Butter

Take half teaspoon of ghee and butter in a transparent bowl, add 2-3 drops of tincture of iodine. Blue colour will indicate the presence of starch.

Detection Of Chalk Powder In Sugar, Pithi Sugar, Jaggery

Take transparent glass of water, dissolve 10 gram of sample in water. If the chalk is mixed in ample, the adulterant will settle down in the bottom.

Check For Sweets

Be cautious if sweets appear overly bright as it could be result of synthetic colouring agent and chemicals. Always taste and smell the sweet before buying sweets. FSSAI says to check for the presence of starch, add a few drops of iodine into a solution of the sweet and water. If it turns blue purple, the milk used has been adulterated. To check if the silver foil has been adulterated with Aluminium, heat up some of the foil on spoon. Pure silver leaves burn away completely leaving glistening balls while Aluminium leaves are reduced to grey ash.

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