An Evaluation of Adulteration of Selected Foods Available in Shops in Peliyagoda Urban Council Area

Background: Food adulteration is the intentional adding of non-food ingredients to a food product to enhance its quality and quality before being sold.The presence of food adulterants in the body can trigger asthma, cancer, and various other health issues.Method: An analytical cross-sectional investigation was conducted into sugar, chili powders and turmeric powder samples.There were chemical and physical experiments conducted here.Physical tests consisted of clarity and grittiness tests.Chemical tests included the HCl test, Nessler reagent test, iodine test and H2SO4 test.Results: When white particles were tested physically for contamination in water, 61 out of 70 samples (87.14%) had contaminated white sugar; all samples of brown sugar were uncontaminated.60/70 (85.71%) of the white sugar samples contained ammonia, at the same time 3/9 (33.33%) of the brown sugar samples tested positive for ammonia during the Nessler reagent test.There are no traces of yellow color contamination in either the brown or white sugar samples.In physical testing of chili powder samples, among branded samples, 79.66% presented with grittiness.At the same time 33.89% presented white particles in chili powder.Among non-branded chili powder samples, most products showed grittiness and white particles.Nevertheless, all branded samples were free of calcium salt and starch contamination during chemical testing.Starch was found in 95% samples of non-branded chili powder, but not calcium salt.Physical testing revealed contaminated turmeric powders in all the samples.There were samples containing artificial colors in 49/54 (90.74%) of the non-branded samples, whereas 19/25 (76%) of the branded samples included artificial colors.Conclusion: All samples, branded and non-branded, contained starch and were free of chalk powder contamination.