Detection of Adulterants in Retail Milk Samples Procured in Proddatur Town, YSR Kadapa (Dt), Andhra Pradesh

The recent emerging and burning issue of milk is its adulteration. Adulteration is practiced either to substitute the cheaper ingredients or to impress the buyer to think the product is more valuable or of better quality. Keeping in view of this issue a small work was planned to detect the adulteration in milk. A total of 50 samples were collected from retail outlets, nearby chilling centres and different localities in and around Proddatur of YSR Kadapa District, Andhrapradesh, India and tested for the determination of and extent of adulteration. Qualitative analyses were carried out on 50 milk samples with the help of a standard milk adulteration kit manufactured by HiMedia Laboratories, Mumbai, India. The results indicates that out of 50 samples 54% and 40% of the samples were adulterated with Sodium chloride and Sugar respectively. The presence of Urea and Hydrogen peroxide was nearly same (24% and 26% respectively). To little extent the milk was also adulterated with Formalin (12%), Glucose/ Dextrose and Detergents (10%), Starch (8%), Neutralizers (6%) and Skim milk powder (2%). All percentage values are indicative of presence of these adulterants. The findings of this study prooved that the milk procured did not confirm to the legal standards and it was adulterated with toxic chemicals which are injurious to health in a long run. People should be educated about the toxic effects of different adulterants on their health.