Adulteration and Foodborne Illness
What this domain covers
Adulteration is deliberate: someone adds, removes or substitutes something to raise profit or deceive. Foodborne illness is the health outcome of contaminated food. The exam tests both definitions and the ability to link a symptom pattern to a cause.
Adulteration
Under the Punjab Pure Food Regulations, food is adulterated if it contains a harmful or unauthorised substance, if a valuable component has been removed, if it is substituted with a cheaper material, or if it is mislabelled. Common examples in Punjab: water, starch, detergent or urea in milk; metanil yellow or lead chromate in turmeric and other spices; cheap fats in ghee; sugar syrup in honey; calcium carbide used to ripen fruit; formalin used to preserve fish.
Foodborne illness
- Intoxication (toxin already formed in the food): Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium botulinum - short onset, often vomiting.
- Infection: Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria, hepatitis A - onset usually 12 hours to several days, often fever and diarrhoea.
- Mycotoxins: aflatoxin in badly stored cereals, nuts and spices; long-term liver damage.
Typical signs are nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and fever. Illness in two or more people who ate the same food suggests an outbreak, which must be reported.
Worked example
A shop’s loose milk is suspected of containing starch. Reasoning: starch is a cheap thickener added to watered milk. An iodine test turns blue-black when starch is present, confirming it. The sample should be sealed, labelled and sent for laboratory analysis. The finding is adulteration, not spoilage, and boiling the milk does not make it lawful.
Traps
- Calling spoilage “adulteration” - spoilage is accidental.
- Assuming boiling makes adulterated food safe (lead and detergent survive).
- Confusing intoxication with infection when reading onset times.