Allow some chemistry to enter your kitchen today

MANGALORE: Worried about food adulteration? Fret not. Chemistry is here to help you identify adulterated food. You need not go to a laboratory anymore... small experiments in your kitchen will help you identify the adulterated ones.Students of St Agnes College proved that food adulteration can be checked with a little bit of chemistry in the kitchen.Sr Reshma Rodrigues and Sr Cicilia Crasta, III BSc Life Science students, of told TOI that homemakers can find out whether wheat flour contains chalk powder or honey that's bought at a high price has jaggery content in it or not, by doing simple chemical experiments. In fact, their project grabbed the attention of many students and teaching faculty at Chem Fiesta, an exhibition on Chemistry organized as part of the International Year of Chemistry by department of chemistry students of St Agnes College here on Wednesday.Sr Reshma said, "Some traders mix chalk powder with wheat flour to increase their profit. This adulteration can be identified using just few drops of carbon tetrachloride solution. Put small quantity of wheat flour into the solution and stir it for a few seconds. While wheat flour will be dissolved in the solution, chalk powder will settle down at the bottom."She said the same experiment can be repeated to know whether the pepper brought from the market is adulterated with dried papaya seeds. "Pepper will remain unchanged in the solution while papaya seeds will start bulging," she explained. The profit of traders' increases when they add crushed brick fines to a packet of chilli powder. No one will be able to notice it without doing a chemical analysis. Same tetrachloride solution experiment will work here too, she explained.Reshma and Cicilia said adulteration in ghee, honey and many other food items can also be easily found with the help of Chemistry. The quantity of ghee increases when it is adulterated by mixing boiled and crushed potato in it. "This can be identified by dropping a small quantity of such ghee into iodine solution. While potato starch content will turn into deep blue, ghee will float on the solution. Similarly, aniline hydrochloride will turn the jaggery content in adulterated honey into orange," they explained.

source:timesofindia.indiatimes.com