ABSTRACT
208 209Food adulteration is a global concern, and developing countries are at higher risk associated with it due to lack of monitoring, policies, and lack of infrastructure for analyzing the same. Ghee is a widely consumed dairy product in India and that prepared from cow milk is mentioned in ayurvedic texts as an ingredient of many formulations/additive as well. Ghee is almost three to four times costlier than the other edible fats and oils, and its limited supply attracts the unscrupulous manufacturers to adulterate it with cheaper alternatives in Indian subcontinent. Detection of ghee adulterated with vegetable oils/fats and animal body fats is a key concern at grassroot level during processing and marketing. This chapter presents a detailed information of common ghee adulterants as well as different methods to detect the adulterants both qualitatively and quantitatively. Among reported techniques, Baudouin test, Bieber’s test, Bömer value, differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis, gasliquid chromatographic, high-pressure liquid chromatography, Holde’s test, hydroxamic acid test, iodine value, refractive index, Reichert-Meissl value, saponification value, solidification point, spectroscopic method, thin-layer chromatography, ultraviolet spectroscopy, visible spectroscopy, and other methods are discussed in current chapter.
