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Milk Adulteration and Ways To Detect It

People all across the world, regardless of age, drink milk or use it to make various beverages and food items. Along with other important vitamins and minerals, it is an excellent source of calcium and protein. However, to enjoy the maximum benefits of milk, you should be sure of its quality. Milk, being a perishable product, can get spoilt easily. Hence, farmers, wholesalers, retailers and suppliers mix a lot of adulterants in milk to increase its shelf life. These adulterants impact your health in the long run. Read on to understand what is milk adulteration and ways to detect it at home.

What is Milk Adulteration?

Milk adulteration refers to the process of intentionally degrading milk quality either by adding some inferior substances or by removing some valuable ingredient. By doing so, it increases the quantity of milk and helps make profit illegally. Some of the most common adulterants in milk include water, starch urea, and detergent.

Adulterated milk is dangerous, and severe health problems can arise, if consumed regularly. It can even lead to hospitalisation.

Harmful Effects of Milk Contamination and Adulteration

The effects of milk contamination and adulteration are so bad that it can cause life-threatening ailments. Consuming adulterated/contaminated milk regularly can cause the following issues:

• Improper functioning of vital organs

• Cardiac issues

• Vision-related issues

• Damages to the kidney

• Risk of certain cancers

• Death, in severe cases

Common Adulterants in Milk and Their Sources

Water:

Usually, water is mixed with milk at the farm to match the quantity required; people usually use water from open sources, and this may lead to the addition of bacteria and other germs to the milk

Preservatives:

Wholesalers and retailers mix preservatives, neutralisers and other substances like caustic soda to improve the shelf life of milk, so that it doesn’t get spoilt when transported across long distances in vehicles with minimal or no cold storage facilities.

Thickening agents (flour, starch, etc.), synthetic milk, detergent, urea and refined milk:

These are usually added to the original milk by suppliers to increase the quantity of their stock. Sometimes, sugar and glucose are also added to improve the taste of milk and conceal the flavour of the adulterants.

How to Detect Milk Adulteration?

A) At Home

To ensure the quality of the milk you and your family consume, you can do the following tests at home:

• If you want to detect detergent in milk, you just have to shake 5-10 ml of the sample in an equal amount of water. Lather formation, if any, implies the presence of detergent in milk.

• Another method is the starch iodine test, which can help you detect starch present in milk. For this, you need to take a test tube of 3ml sample of milk. Boil and cool the milk; when the milk is at room temperature, add a drop of 1 per cent iodine solution. If the colour of the milk changes to blue, it indicates the presence of starch. The blue colour will disappear on boiling and reappear on cooling.

• In synthetic milk, vegetable fat or oil is used as the primary source of fat. If you want to check the presence of such adulterants, it can be done by adding buffalo or cow milk to synthetic milk.

• A reading that shows a high SNF (i.e., Solids Not Fat) ratio and density but low fat indicate that the fat has been skimmed or removed from milk.

• You can easily detect whether water has been added to the milk if you see a low fat percentage, density, and SNF ratio.

• If you want to detect the presence of sodium chloride or common salt, take 2 ml of milk and add 0.1 N silver nitrate or 0.1 ml of 5% potassium chromate. If you see a yellow-coloured precipitate, it indicates that the milk contains salt as an additive.

• To detect glucose or invert sugar, dip a diacetric strip in the milk for 30-60 seconds. If you see the strip changing colour, it will indicate the presence of glucose in the milk.

B) In Laboratory

A thorough way to verify if milk and milk products have been adulterated is through laboratory testing. In comparison to approaches used at home, it is far more complex but precise. The tests are carried out in a safe setting with all the required equipment. Not every adulterant is detectable at home, so it is important to use lab-based techniques. The following is a list of adulterants that require laboratory testing

• Vanaspati

• Formalin

• Salt

• Sugar

• Hydrogen Peroxide

• Ammonium Sulphate and Boric Acid

Technological Advancements in Detecting Milk Adulteration

Since many cases of milk adulteration and its harmful effects have surfaced, certain modern technologies have been introduced to detect adulterants. These technologies include:

• Infrared Spectroscopy

Here, the contaminants and adulterants in the milk can be identified within seconds. Every spectrum of milk is analysed carefully to check the molecules and their constituents to identify contaminants, if any.

• Liquid Chromatography (LC)

LC, along with MS (mass spectrometry), is an accurate method to isolate the milk particles and check for all contaminants, especially the synthesised ones.

• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)

This system is used to detect antibiotic particles and protein-filled agents in the milk. This way, foreign protein agents are identified within seconds using this technology.

• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

This technology thoroughly identifies the DNA of milk to confirm its species and identify unique genes. It works best in high-value milk products like buffalo and camel milk.

• Electronic Milk Analysers

This technology gives important details like the freezing point, density and fat content in the milk.

• Artificial Intelligence-Based Detection Systems

Different milk detection technologies can be fed into AI-enabled systems to ensure that the detection process is accurate and error-free. AI can also be used to understand the adulteration trends in the market by studying historical data, thereby improving awareness among consumers.

• Biosensors

These are small and portable devices that can be used to quickly detect enzymes and biological adulterants like formalin and hydrogen peroxide.

Conclusion

Ensuring that the milk we consume is unadulterated is crucial as it can have significant adverse effects on health. It is, therefore, important to understand how to conduct a milk purity test. You can use the methods listed above to check whether the milk you use daily at home is really pure.

One of the important components of our overall wellness is also being financially secured. Healthcare emergencies can happen any time, but a good health insurance policy can protect you from such uncertain situations. To know more about Wellness and other health related tips, visit the wellness corner.

Sources: acko.com

Disclaimer: This blog provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this blog, website or any linked materials are not intended and should not be considered or used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Kindly contact your doctor before starting a new medicine or health regime.

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Published on March 07, 2024

Adulteration in Milk