How To Check Adulteration In Milk?
- Author :
- TATA AIG Team
- ●
- Published on :
- 04/05/2023
Milk is a vital source of nutrition consumed by people of all ages around the world. It is a rich source of calcium, protein, and other essential vitamins and minerals. Milk is also a good energy source and can help keep the body hydrated.
In addition to its nutritional benefits, milk is also used in a wide variety of culinary applications, from making cheese and yoghurt to baking and cooking.
As a result, milk is an essential part of everyday life and is crucial in maintaining good health and overall well-being. Therefore, enhancing your knowledge about how to check adulteration in milk at home is necessary.
Before we get started, it is important to understand what adulteration means and its impact to take the necessary steps.
What Is Adulteration in Milk?
Adulteration is often one of the most deliberate processes that can degrade the quality of milk. Unfortunately, it is often misinterpreted as contamination.
Contamination refers to a process wherein the milk is added with substances that totally spoil its quality. However, it is unintentional. For example, it can be related to ignorance in handling the milk delivered, such as not refrigerating it properly or there is a default in the supply chain management.
However, adulteration refers to deliberately indulging in an activity that can degrade milk quality for different purposes, such as increasing the quantity and making gains on the increased delivery numbers. It can cause serious health implications in children and adults.
Therefore, it is important to know how to check whether milk is real or fake.
Therefore, adulterants are substances added to milk to alter its properties, such as increasing its density or protein concentration. These adulterants can have harmful health effects, including typhoid, cholera, gastritis, vomiting, nausea, and damage to the skin, lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys.
Therefore, it is important to know how to test the purity of milk.
Here are a few common adulterants and their impact.
| Adulterant | Impact | Harmful health effects |
|---|---|---|
| Water | To decrease the density of milk | Reduces nutritional value. And, if water is contaminated, it can lead to typhoid, cholera, etc., Arsenicated water causing the presence of arsenic in milk can affect skin, lungs, etc., |
| Starch | Prevents curdling, and can increase the thickness to alter the viscosity and consistency. | Diarrhoea and its accumulation can be fatal in diabetic patients. |
| Urea | It is added to milk containing water to increase the thickness and SNF in milk and also the protein concentration. | Gastritis, vomiting and nausea. It can affect the kidney, heart and liver. |
| Detergent | Used to increase the thickness and balance the viscosity of milk. | Nausea, diarrhoea, eye and skin irritations, organ toxicity, reproductive toxicity, and even cancer. |
| Synthetic milk | To increase the volume. | Affects the heart, kidneys and liver. |
| Melamine | To increase the nitrogen and protein content | Bladder stones, kidney failure, etc., |
| Hydrogen peroxide | To prevent bacterial growth and shelf life | MGastritis, inflammation of the intestine, heart diseases, etc., |
| Ammonium sulphate | Increase the lactometer reading by balancing the density | Nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting |
| Formalin | To increase shelf life | Corrosion of intestines, skin and eye disease, cancer |
| Injecting oxytocin to cow | Increase milk production | Heart and kidney disease, eye loss, memory loss, hormone imbalance, etc. |
How To Test Milk Purity At Home?
Considering the harmful health effects, knowing how to check adulteration in milk is important.
| Adulterant | Milk Adulteration Test |
|---|---|
| Water | Put one drop of the milk on an inclined surface. Pure milk stays in the same place or flows slowly, leaving a trail behind. Adulterated milk with water will start flowing immediately, leaving no trail behind. |
| Detergent | Take 10 to 15 ml of the milk and add an equal amount of water to a container. Shake the contents. When the milk is adulterated, the mixture will form a dense lather. On the other hand, pure milk will form a thin layer due to the agitation. |
| Starch | Take 2-3 ml of the sample and add 5 ml of water to boil. After the mixture cools down, add 2-3 drops of iodine. If the mixture turns blue in colour, it contains starch. |
| Synthetic milk | Taste a few drops of the milk. If it leaves a bitter taste, then it contains synthetic milk. |
| Urea | Take a few drops of the milk and add soybean powder to it in a tube. Shake the mixture and insert a red litmus paper. The milk contains urea if it turns blue in colour. |
| Formalin | Take about 10 ml of milk and add 2 - 3 drops of sulphuric acid to it. If a blue ring seems to appear at the highest, the milk is adulterated. |
Adulteration of milk can have serious consequences for the health of individuals who consume it. It is important to be aware of the potential risks, know how to identify fake milk and take steps to ensure the safety and purity of the milk you consume. However, in some cases identifying adulterated milk and its potential risks and taking the necessary steps might be challenging to incorporate into our daily lives.
Adulterated milk can cause serious health issues, such as typhoid, cholera, gastritis, vomiting, nausea, and damage to the skin, lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys. These health issues can result in an emergency, increasing medical bills. It can be financially devastating without proper health insurance coverage. Health insurance is essential to protecting your health and financial well-being. Health insurance allows you to access necessary medical care, including testing and treatment for any health issues. In addition, the benefits of health insurance can provide peace of mind, knowing that your health is protected and financial stability is secured in case of any health emergency.
At Tata AIG, we offer the medical insurance plan online with cashless and reimbursement medical facilities in some of the best hospitals throughout the country. We also provide a range of coverage options, customisable features and add-on options to maximise the benefits based on individual financial needs. Therefore, you can buy health insurance online and avail of the best features by comparing the products' cost.
Conclusion
Milk is essential to everyday life and is crucial in maintaining good health and overall well-being. However, ensuring that the milk we consume is pure and free from adulteration is essential. Adulteration is a deliberate process that can degrade the quality of milk and can cause serious health implications in children and adults.
Therefore, knowing how to perform a milk purity test is highly significant. Various methods, such as checking for water, detergent, starch, synthetic milk, urea, etc., can be used to identify adulterated milk. Therefore, you can take the necessary steps to ensure that the milk we use is pure and safe for consumption.
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