Adulterant

{{about||deterioration of the quality of the substance caused naturally as well as a result of environmental factors such as heat, humidity etc|Contamination|the drug slang of the term adulteration|Lacing (drugs)}}

An adulterant is a substance secretly added to another that may compromise the safety or effectiveness. Typical substances that are adulterated include food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals or fuels.

Definition

Adulteration is the practice of secretly mixing a substance with another.{{cite web |title=Difference Between Adulteration and Contamination |url=https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-adulteration-and-vs-contamination/ |website=Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms |date=16 July 2014}} The secretly added substance will not normally be present in any specification or declared substances due to accident or negligence rather than intent, and also for the introduction of unwanted substances after the product has been made. Adulteration, therefore, implies that the adulterant was introduced deliberately in the initial manufacturing process, or sometimes that it was present in the raw materials and should have been removed, but was not.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

An adulterant is distinct from, for example, permitted food preservatives. There can be a fine line between adulterant and additive; chicory may be added to coffee to reduce the cost or achieve a desired flavor—this is adulteration if not declared, but may be stated on the label. Chalk was often added to bread flour; this reduces the cost and increases whiteness, but the calcium confers health benefits, and in modern bread, a little chalk may be included as an additive for this reason.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In wartime, adulterants have been added to make foodstuffs "go further" and prevent shortages. The German word ersatz is widely recognised for such practices during World War II. Such adulteration was sometimes deliberately hidden from the population to prevent loss of morale and propaganda reasons. Some goods considered luxurious in the Soviet Bloc such as coffee were adulterated{{how|date=July 2023}} to make them affordable to the general population.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

In food and beverages

File:How the microscope reveals adulteration b10154140 027 tif ks65hd45w.tiff (left) and arrowroot (right) and a mixture of the two (center), {{Circa|1909}} ]]

Past and present examples of adulterated food, some dangerous, include:

Apple jellies (jams), as substitutes for more expensive fruit jellies, with added colorant and sometimes even specks of wood that simulate raspberry or strawberry seeds
High fructose corn syrup or cane sugar, used to adulterate honey
Red ochre–soaked brown bread to give the appearance of beef sausage for sausage roll filling.The Times, Police, 5 February 1894; pg. 14
Olive oil adulteration
Roasted chicory roots used as an adulterant for coffee (if not mentioned or conveyed the same in any manner)
Water, for diluting milk and alcoholic beverages
Water or brine injected into chicken, pork, or other meats to increase their weight{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/dining/09well.html?ex=1159243200&en=17c3332c2ab7cd8d&ei=5070 | work=The New York Times | first=Marian | last=Burros | title=The Customer Wants a Juicy Steak? Just Add Water | date=9 August 2006}}
Urea, melamine and other nonprotein nitrogen sources, added to protein products to inflate crude protein content measurements{{cite news

|url=https://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-04-25-melamine-usat_N.htm

|first=Elizabeth

|last=Weise

|title=Food tests promise tough task for FDA

|work=USA Today

|date=24 April 2007

|access-date=29 April 2007}}

History

Historically, the use of adulterants has been common; sometimes dangerous substances have been used. In the United Kingdom up to the Victorian era, adulterants were common; for example, cheeses were sometimes colored with lead. Similar adulteration issues were seen in industries in the United States, during the 19th century. There is a dispute over whether these practices declined primarily due to government regulation or to increased public awareness and concern over the practices.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In the early 21st century, cases of dangerous adulteration occurred in the People's Republic of China.{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Yong-Ning |last2=Zhao |first2=Yun-Feng |last3=Li |first3=Jin-Guang |author4=Melamine Analysis Group |title=A Survey on Occurrence of Melamine and Its Analogues in Tainted Infant Formula in China |journal=Biomedical and Environmental Sciences |date=2009 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=95–99 |doi=10.1016/S0895-3988(09)60028-3|doi-access=free |pmid=19618684 |bibcode=2009BioES..22...95W }}{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Xiaoman |last2=Zang |first2=Mingwu |last3=Li |first3=Dan |last4=Zhang |first4=Kaihua |last5=Zhang |first5=Zheqi |last6=Wang |first6=Shouwei |title=Meat food fraud risk in Chinese markets 2012–2021 |journal=npj Science of Food |date=2023 |volume=7 |issue=12 |page=12 |doi=10.1038/s41538-023-00189-z|doi-access=free |pmid=37012259 |pmc=10070328 }}

In some African countries, it is not uncommon for thieves to break electric transformers to steal transformer oil, which is then sold to the operators of roadside food stalls to be used for deep frying. When used for frying, it is reported that transformer oil lasts much longer than regular cooking oil. The downside of this misuse of the transformer oil is the threat to the health of the consumers, due to the presence of PCBs.[http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/12/thieves-fry-kenya-power-grid-fast-food-2014122884728785480.html Thieves fry Kenya's power grid for fast food], Al Jazeera, 28 December 2014

Adulterant use was first investigated in 1820 by the German chemist Frederick Accum, who identified many toxic metal colorings in food and drink. His work antagonized food suppliers, and he was ultimately discredited by a scandal over his alleged mutilation of books in the Royal Institution library. The physician Arthur Hill Hassall conducted extensive studies in the early 1850s, which were published in The Lancet and led to the 1860 Food Adulteration Act and other legislation.{{cite magazine |last= Coley |first= Noel |date= 1 March 2005 |title= The fight against food adulteration |url= https://eic.rsc.org/feature/the-fight-against-food-adulteration/2020253.article |magazine= Education in Chemistry |volume= 42 |issue= 2 |pages= 46–49 |publisher= Royal Society of Chemistry |access-date= 19 June 2018 }} John Postgate led a further campaign, leading to another Act of 1875, which forms the basis of the modern legislation and a system of public analyst who test for adulteration.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

At the turn of the 20th century, industrialization in the United States led to a increase in adulteration, which inspired some protest. Accounts of adulteration led the New York Evening Post to parody:

Mary had a little lamb,

And when she saw it sicken,

She shipped it off to Packingtown,

And now it's labeled chicken.Jeffrey M. Pilcher, Food in World History New York: Routledge, 2006, p. 59

Incidents

In 1981, denaturated Colza oil was added to olive oil in Spain and 600 people were killed (See Toxic oil syndrome){{citation needed|date=August 2023}}
In 1987, Beech-Nut was fined for violating the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by selling flavored sugar water as apple juice.{{Cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1370/is_n5_v22/ai_6495698|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210213152/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1370/is_n5_v22/ai_6495698|url-status=dead|title=Juiceless baby juice leads to full-length justice|FDA Consumer|archivedate=10 December 2007}}
In 1997, ConAgra Foods illegally sprayed water on stored grain to increase its weight.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/20/business/conagra-set-to-settle-criminal-charges-it-increased-weight-and-value-of-grain.html|title=Conagra Set to Settle Criminal Charges It Increased Weight and Value of Grain|agency=Bloomberg News|newspaper=The New York Times |date=20 March 1997}}
In 2007, samples of wheat gluten mixed with melamine, presumably to produce inflated results from tests for protein content, were discovered in the USA. They were found to have come from China.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} (See: Chinese protein adulteration.)
In the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, significant portions of China's milk supply were found to have been adulterated with melamine. Infant formula produced from this milk killed at least six children and is believed to have harmed two hundred thousand children.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
In 2012, a study in India across 29 states and union territories found that milk was adulterated with detergent, fat, and even urea, and diluted with water. Just 31.5% of samples conformed to FSSAI standards.{{cite news |last=Sinha |first=Kounteya |date=10 January 2012 |title=70% of milk in Delhi, country is adulterated |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/70-of-milk-in-Delhi-country-is-adulterated/articleshow/11429910.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |access-date=23 February 2014}}
In the 2013 meat adulteration scandal in Europe, horsemeat was passed off as beef.
In 2019, it was discovered that lead chromate was widely added to turmeric sold in Bangladesh to enhance its yellow color, which was largely responsible for consistently high lead poisoning rates in the country and prompted a government crackdown. By 2021, the practice had been eradicated in the country, and blood lead levels had dropped.{{cite news |last1=Piper |first1=Kelsey |title=Lead poisoning kills millions annually. One country is showing the way forward. |url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/9/20/23881981/bangladesh-tumeric-lead-poisoning-contamination-public-health |work=Vox |date=20 September 2023 |language=en}}