Detection of Adulterants in Turmeric Powder from Deulgaon Raja Village Weekly Market

Turmeric powder or Curcumin has been used for the treatment and prevention of different chronic diseases as like cancer, neurological diseases, arthritis, obesity, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, hemoglobinopathies, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, Inflammation, and skin diseases. Turmeric powder/Haldi has been an inseparable part of Indian cuisine, commonly used as a colouring and flavouring agent. Such an important and valuable turmeric powder was observed to be adulterated by other cheap substances such as chalk powder, starch of maize, wheat and rice, metanil yellow, Lead chromate/ lead salt, and aniline dye etc. to get more profit. Adulteration is also done because of consumer’s behaviour as they want to buy stuffs at lowest possible price. Adulteration is not only degenerating the quality of food but also affecting on human health and causes many serious diseases. Thus it is essential to know that whether the turmeric that we are using is good, safe to use or it is adulterated with some harmful substance. This can be done by simple physical and chemical tests. In this study, we performed several chemical tests to detect adulteration present in turmeric powder. This is an attempt to bring an awareness in the public on the important subject of food adulteration.