Sweets are an essential part of every festival celebration in India. As the festival season approaches, its demand increases significantly. The market is full of many types of sweets that are very tasty to look at and eat. However, this festive season, sweets also raise questions about their hygiene and purity because every day there are reports that fake ghee, mawa and dairy products are being adulterated.
To increase the shelf life of many sweets, chemicals are added to them and in many others oil is added. In such a situation, everyone should know how to identify adulterated sweets. That is why today we tell you how to identify adulterated sweets and what risks may arise from their consumption.
What kind of adulteration is happening in Mawa?
Regarding this, Deputy Commissioner (Grade II) of Food Safety and Drug Administration, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Sarvesh Mishra, told Aajtak.in: “Look, it is like this, adulteration and manufacturing of sweets in a contaminated place, both things are bad for your health. our health. It is dangerous. If a sweet is prepared in a dirty place, cleanliness is not taken care of, if a smell comes out of the sweet, then a person can identify it by himself, but nowadays, to make more profit, merchants do it. We are doing a lot of adulteration of two types and this is also under our control.
‘If we talk about adulterated sweets, today the most adulterated thing is happening in Mawa (Khoya). Just a few days ago, 100 kg of adulterated mawa was seized in Sirsa, Greater Noida and 400 kg of mawa worth Rs 88,000 was taken from Meerut to Chaupala temple, Ghaziabad. If someone takes mawa, he can adulterate it in two ways. The first adulteration is starch such as potato or semolina. This type of adulteration is detected quite easily. Iodine solution is available in the market to check its purity. If you put a drop of iodine solution in mawa. If the mawa immediately turns black or blue, it means it is adulterated.
‘The second adulteration that occurs is that the fat is extracted from the milk. They make ghee from the fat and sell it, so they benefit from both the mawa and the ghee. Instead of the fat extracted from milk, they add refined, soy or vegetable oil. These oils are naturally cheap.
‘If you put it on your tongue to test its purity, you will know. The milk is slightly sweet. If you have used refined, soy or vegetable oil instead of a slightly sweet flavor, you will feel astringency.
‘When you convert milk into mawa, very little mawa comes out, that is, about 100 grams per 1 kg of milk. If someone uses these oils in milk, they will get more mawa.
Shampoo and oil are mixed with cheese.
Sarvesh Mishra says, ‘We are also seeing adulterated cheese being sold in large quantities. That means it looks like cheese but contains a lot of adulteration. It looks like cheese but it doesn’t have the properties of cheese. There are only two things in adulterated cheese. These people also get fat from it. Now if you remove the fat it will make cheese but it will not be soft.
‘To make the cheese soft, they add refined oil so that the fat returns. Some people also add starch to paneer.
You will see that if you mix any type of vegetable oil with milk, it will start to float on top of the milk. To mix oil and milk, they emulsify it, that is, they beat it with a mixer. But it will only emulsify when some detergent or shampoo is added. You can’t blend properly without detergent.
‘Now, to remove the smell of detergent from the cheese, they add liquid glucose or maltose, which gives it a soft sweet taste like that of milk and once the cheese is made, the common man is unable to recognize that he is eating adulterated cheese. . cheese.’
‘Very few people eat raw cheese. Even if someone eats raw cheese, he can understand the taste because it will have an astringent taste on the tongue and its purity can also be discovered by adding an iodine solution.
What precautions should be taken when buying sweets?
Sarvesh Mishra says, ‘One thing I have told them is that they can detect contaminated sweets by looking at hygiene, smell or taste. Apart from this, you should avoid buying colorful sweets. Although food dyes or edible artificial food dyes are legal, their excessive use can also harm health. Please understand that the use of up to one gram of color in one kilogram of candy is considered safe. Therefore, avoid buying too many brightly colored candies. If sweets are kept in the store, you will not be able to check their hygiene. Therefore, keep in mind that you always buy sweets in a store that you know takes care of cleanliness while making them.
‘If there is silver work in the candy, take it out of the candy, place it in your hand and rub it with your thumb. If there is pure silver crust, it will disappear and if aluminum foil has been adulterated, it will become a bullet. The reason for this is that silver is a metal that can be shaped very finely. If it is real, it will disappear after the thinner shape, while the aluminum will remain the same, it will only change its shape.
‘Sonpapadi is very popular on Diwali. It is claimed to be made from ghee, but what if the ghee itself is adulterated? If we talk about Sonpapadi, then you can tell by the smell of Sonpapadi if it contains any vegetable oil. Many times vegetable oil is mixed with the essence of desi ghee. So its smell changes but some flavor remains intact. To identify it, as soon as you open the Sonpapadi box you will smell vegetable oil.
‘If you carry packaged sweets, be sure to check their leveling. Many companies package and sell poor quality candy without registering. Therefore, always look for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) mark on packaged sweets.
Eating adulterated sweets can cause these problems
Dr. Abhinav Gupta, Gastroenterologist at Narayana Hospital, Jaipur, while talking about the side effects of eating adulterated sweets on the body, told Aajtak.in, “The organs most affected by consumption of sweets are the stomach and kidneys.” . Anything bad, first of all, causes an upset stomach, in the same way, eating adulterated sweets and cheeses will cause stomach pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, nervousness, etc. There may be indigestion for a long time and if you eat fake sweets or cheese for a long time, the chances of getting kidney stones increase.
“Apart from this, it can also affect the liver and heart because poor quality oil is mixed with fake sweets, so it increases cholesterol and you may have to face a lot of problems.”
Detergents, preservatives, excessive amounts of oil, palm oil essence, etc. are added to sweets and cheese. These help keep candy looking fresh and smelling good for a long time. But these things can make these sweets even more poisonous.
‘Colors added to foods are also sometimes added in excessive quantities, which can cause skin allergies or throat problems. If you consume adulterated sweets or cheese, you may initially suffer from problems such as stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. If anyone notices such symptoms, immediately consult a doctor and provide details about what you have eaten.
‘The best and most useful way to prevent this is to drink more water. So that toxins can leave the body.
