Common Adulterants/Contaminants <http://keralites.net/> in food <http://keralites.net/> Injurious Adulterants/Contaminants in Foods and their Health Effects S.No Adulterant Foods Commonly Involved Diseases or Health Effects Adulterants in food 1 Argemone seeds Argemone oil Mustard seeds Edible oils and fats Epidemic dropsy, Glaucoma, Cardiac arrest 2 Artificially coloured foreign seeds As a substitute for cumin seed, Poppy seed, black pepper Injurious to health 3 Foreign leaves or exhausted tea leaves, saw dust artificially coloured Tea Injurious to health, cancer 4 TCP Oils Paralysis 5 Rancid oil Oils Destroys vitamin A and E 6 Sand, marble chips, stones, filth Food grains, pulses etc. Damage digestive tract 7 Lathyrus sativus Khesari dal alone or Mixed in other pulses Lathyrism (crippling spastic paraplegia) Chemical Contamination 8 Mineral oil (white oil, petroleum fractions) Edible oils and fats, Black pepper Cancer 9 Lead chromate Turmeric whole and powdered, mixed spices Anemia, abortion, paralysis, brain damage 10 Methanol Alcoholic liquors Blurred vision, blindness, death 11 Arsenic Fruits such as apples sprayed over with lead arsenate Dizziness, chills, cramps, paralysis, death 12 Barium Foods contaminated by rat poisons (Barium carbonate) Violent peristalisis, arterial hypertension, muscular twitching, convulsions, cardiac disturbances 13 Cadmium Fruit juices, soft drinks, etc. in contact with cadmium plated vessels or equipment. Cadmium contaminated water and shell-fish 'Itai-itai (ouch-ouch) disease, Increased salivation, acute gastritis, liver and kidney damage, prostrate cancer 14 Cobalt Water, liquors Cardiac insufficiency and mycocardial failure 15 Lead Water, natural and processed food Lead poisoning (foot-drop, insomnia, anemia, constipation, mental retardation, brain damage) 16 Copper Food Vomiting, diarrhoea 17 Tin Food Colic, vomiting 18 Zinc Food Colic, vomiting 19 Mercury Mercury fungicide treated seed grains or mercury contaminated fish Brain damage, paralysis, death NOTE : Safe limits have been prescribed for above metals in different food. Continuous use of food contaminated with these metals beyond safe limits may cause these diseases. Bacterial contamination 20 Bacillus cereus Cereal products, custards, puddings, sauces Food infection (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea) 21 Salmonella spp. Meat and meat products, raw vegetables, salads, shell-fish, eggs and egg products, warmed-up leftovers Salmonellosis (food infection usually with fever and chills) 22 Shigella sonnei Milk, potato, beans, poultry, tuna, shrimp, moist mixed foods Shigellosis (bacillary dysentery) 23 Staphylococcus aureus Entero-toxins-A,B,C,D or E Dairy products, baked foods especially custard or cream-filled foods, meat and meat products, low-acid frozen foods, salads, cream sauces, etc. Increased salivation, vomiting, abdominal cramp, diarrhoea, severe thirst, cold sweats, prostration 24 Clostridium botulinus toxins A,B,E or F Defectively canned low or medium-acid foods; meats, sausages, smoked vacuum-packed fish, fermented food etc. Botulism (double vision, muscular paralysis, death due to respiratory failure) 25 Clostridium.perfringens (Welchii) type A Milk improperly processed or canned meats, fish and gravy stocks Nausea, abdominal pains, diarrhoea, gas formation 26 Diethyl stilbestrol (additive in animal feed) Meat Sterlites, fibroid tumors etc. 27 3,4 Benzopyrene Skoked food Cancer 28 Excessive solvent residue Solvent extracted oil, oil cake etc. Carcinogenic effect 29 Non-food grade or contaminated packing material Food Blood clot, angiosarcoma, cancer etc. 30 Non-permitted colour or permitted food colour beyond safe limit Coloured food Mental retardation, cancer and other toxic effect. 31 BHA and BHT beyond safe limit Oils and fats Allergy, liver damage, increase in serum chloresterol etc. 32 Monosodium glutamate(flour) (beyond safe limit) Chinese food, meat and meat products Brain damage, mental retardation in infants 33 Coumarin and dihydro coumarin Flavoured food Blood anticoagulant 34 Food flavours beyond safe limit Flavoured food Chances of liver cancer 35 Brominated vegetable oils Cold drinks Anemia, enlargement of heart 36 Sulphur dioxide and sulphite beyond safe limit In variety of food as preservative Acute irritation of the gastro-intestinal tracts etc. 37 Artificial sweetners beyond safe limit Sweet foods Chances of cancer Fungal contamination 38 Aflatoxins Aspergillus flavus-contaminated foods such as groundnuts, cottonseed, etc. Liver damage and cancer 39 Ergot alkaloids from Claviceps purpurea Toxic alkaloids, ergotamine, ergotoxin and ergometrine groups Ergot-infested bajra, rye meal or bread Ergotism (St.Anthony's fire-burning sensation in extremities, itching of skin, peripheral gangrene) 40 Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichioides Grains (millet, wheat, oats, rye,etc) Alimentary toxic aleukia(ATA) (epidemic panmyelotoxicosis) 41 Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichiella Moist grains Urov disease (Kaschin-Beck disease) 42 Toxins from Penicillium inslandicum Penicillium atricum, Penicillium citreovirede, Fusarium, Rhizopus, Aspergillus Yellow rice Toxic mouldy rice disease 43 Sterigmatocystin from Aspergillus versicolour Aspergillus nidulans and bipolaris Foodgrains Hepatitis 44 Ascaris lumbricoides Any raw food or water contaminated by human faces containing eggs of the parasite Ascariasis 45 Entamoeba histolytica Viral Raw vegetables and fruits Amoebic dysentery 46 Virus of infectious Hepatitis (virus A) Shell-fish, milk, unheated foods contaminated with faeces, urine and blood of infected human Infectious hepatitis 47 Machupo virus Foods contaminated with rodents urine, such as cereals Bolivian haemorrhagic fever Natural Contamination 48 Flouride Drinking water, sea foods, tea, etc. Excess fluoride causes fluorosis (mottling of teeth, skeletal and neurological disorders) 49 Oxalic acid Spinach, amaranth, etc. Renal calculi, cramps, failure of blood to clot 50 Gossypol Cottonseed flour and cake Cancer 51 Cyanogenetic compounds Bitter almonds, apple seeds, cassava, some beans etc. Gastro-intestinal disturbances 52 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons(PAH) Smoked fish, meat, mineral oil-contaminated water, oils, fats and fish, especially shell-fish Cancer 53 Phalloidine (Alkaloid) Toxic mushrooms Mushroom poisoning (Hypoglycemia, convulsions, profuse watery stools, severe necrosis of liver leading to hepatic failure and death) 54 Solanine Potatoes Solanine poisoning (vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea) 55 Nitrates and Nitrites Drinking water, spinach rhubarb, asparagus, etc. and meat products Methaemoglobinaemia especially in infants, cancer and tumours in the liver, kidney, trachea oesophagus and lungs. The liver is the initial site but afterwards tumours appear in other organs. 56 Asbestos (may be present in talc, Kaolin, etc. and in processed foods) Polished rice, pulses, processed foods containing anti-caking agents, etc. Absorption in particulate form by the body may produce cancer 57 Pesticide residues (beyond safe limit) All types of food Acute or chronic poisoning with damage to nerves and vital organs like liver, kidney, etc. 58 Antibiotics (beyond safe limit) Meats from antibiotic-fed animals Multiple drug resistance hardening of arteries, heart disease <http://www.orkut.com/Community.aspx?cmm=56475514> __._,_.___ __,_._,___ DISCLAIMER: Notice : This e-mail and any attachments may contain information which is confidential to the addressee and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you may not copy, forward, disclose or otherwise use it in any way whatsoever. 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