Abstract

A SUCCINCT VIEW ON HAZARDOUS EFFECT OF FOOD ADULTERATION

Dr. Usha H. Ukey* and Dr. Arvind C. Tumram

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Abstract

Food is one of the basic necessities of life. So, it should be pure and free from any type of adulteration. Food adulteration includes mixing, substitution, concealing the quality, putting up decomposed food for sale, giving false labels and addition of toxicants. This is very common problem occurs globally and it affects almost all food commodities. It is very difficult to find a sector of food industry which is free of food chemicals or adulteration. Adulteration results in decreased food quality and it also lowers the dietary ingredients of food that presents a significant risk of illness to the consumer. This is usually done to increase the quantity of food product and also to lower the cost. Now, the methods of food adulteration have become more sophisticated. In Ayurveda, the toxic combination of poisonous or non-poisonous substances which exert toxic effects on health after interval of sometime comes under the concept of Garavisha. Long term use of adulterated food with toxic chemicals brings threat to public health. Adulteration can be prevented by few alerting steps of society. There is a need to increase social awareness, so that people can become careful about buying foods and food articles.

Keywords: Adulterants, Food quality, Garavisha, Toxic chemicals, Toxic effects.