Every family in India buys milk, atta, oil, and spices assuming they are what the label says. Often they are. But food adulteration — mixing in cheaper, sometimes harmful substances to increase profit — is common enough that the country's food regulator has published a whole manual of tests families can do at home in seconds.

Some adulteration is merely cheating: water in milk, chicory in coffee. Some is genuinely dangerous: industrial dyes in turmeric and chilli, chalk and soapstone in flour, argemone oil in mustard oil. You don't need a laboratory to catch most of it. You need a glass of water, a little iodine, and the knowledge in this guide.

These tests come from the FSSAI's DART initiative — "Detect Adulteration with Rapid Tests" — designed for ordinary kitchens.

Milk — The Most Adulterated Everyday Food

DART
FSSAI's free home-test manual for common foods
Source: FSSAI, Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test
100
The FSSAI food-safety helpline number
Source: FSSAI (toll-free 1800-11-2100)
14
Digit FSSAI licence/registration number on legal packaged food
Source: FSSAI labelling rules
Seconds
Time most of these home tests actually take
Source: FSSAI DART
  • Water in milk: Put a drop of milk on a slanted polished surface. Pure milk flows slowly and leaves a white trail; watered milk runs down fast leaving little or no mark.
  • Starch in milk (to thicken watered milk): Add a few drops of iodine (tincture) to a little boiled, cooled milk. If it turns blue, starch has been added.
  • Detergent in milk: Shake equal parts milk and water in a bottle. A dense, lasting lather/foam points to detergent; pure milk gives only a thin froth.

Spices — Where Adulteration Can Be Harmful

  • Chilli powder — brick powder or sand: Sprinkle a spoonful on a glass of water. Pure chilli floats; brick powder or grit settles at the bottom as a gritty residue you can feel between your fingers.
  • Chilli powder — artificial colour: Add chilli powder to water; if streaks of colour run off immediately, artificial dye is likely.
  • Turmeric — metanil yellow (a banned, toxic dye): Add a pinch of turmeric to a glass of water with a few drops of concentrated HCl (or even lemon-strong acid). Pure turmeric gives a pale yellow; a bright magenta/pink colour that persists signals metanil yellow — do not eat it.
  • Asafoetida (hing): Burn a small piece — pure hing burns with a bright flame; adulterated hing often won't.

Tea, Coffee, Honey, Ghee, and Flour

  • Tea leaves — added colour: Rub tea leaves on wet white paper. Pure tea leaves little colour; artificially coloured tea stains the paper.
  • Coffee — chicory: Sprinkle coffee powder on the surface of water. Coffee floats; chicory sinks, leaving coloured trails as it descends.
  • Honey — sugar syrup/water: Dip a cotton wick in honey and light it. Pure honey burns; adulterated honey (with water) won't light easily or will sputter.
  • Ghee/butter — vanaspati or starch: Add a drop of iodine — a blue colour shows added starch.
  • Flour (atta) — chalk/soapstone: Mix flour with water and add a few drops of HCl; effervescence (bubbling) indicates chalk (calcium carbonate).
  • Common salt — chalk: Stir salt in water — pure salt dissolves clear; chalk turns the water whitish.
Before you even test
Read the label — and check the FSSAI number
Legal packaged food must carry a 14-digit FSSAI licence/registration number, along with the manufacturing/expiry date, ingredients, and veg (green dot) / non-veg (brown) mark. No FSSAI number, or a smudged/missing expiry date, is itself a warning. You can verify a food business's FSSAI licence on the FoSCoS portal (foscos.fssai.gov.in) — genuine brands are registered.

A Word of Caution on the Tests

These are quick screening tests, not laboratory proof. A positive result means "be suspicious and stop buying from that source," not "prosecute." Some tests use acids (HCl) or iodine — handle them carefully, keep them away from children, and never taste a sample you suspect is adulterated. When in doubt, the real remedy is to report it so the authorities can test it properly.

How to Complain — And Actually Get Action

Catching adulteration only helps others if you report it. It is free and simple:

  1. Food Safety Connect app (or the FSSAI portal) — register a complaint against a shop, brand, or eatery, with photos. You get a reference number to track it.
  2. FSSAI toll-free 1800-11-2100, or your state Food Safety Officer (every district has one).
  3. Keep the product, the bill, and the packaging — they are the evidence.

Persistent, documented complaints are what get a habitual adulterator's licence suspended. Your two-minute report can protect an entire neighbourhood.

Do this weekend

Pick the three things your family eats most — likely milk, a spice, and cooking oil or ghee — and run one FSSAI test on each. It costs almost nothing and takes ten minutes. If something fails, change your source and report it on the Food Safety Connect app. Teaching your children one of these tests turns food safety into a lifelong habit rather than a matter of blind trust.

What You Can Do

  • Learn three tests — the milk slant test, the chilli water test, and the iodine-for-starch test — and use them.
  • Check the 14-digit FSSAI number and expiry on everything packaged.
  • Never eat food that fails a test or looks/smells wrong — when unsure, throw it out.
  • Report adulteration on the Food Safety Connect app or 1800-11-2100, keeping the product and bill.
  • Handle test chemicals safely, away from children.
  • Share these tests with your family and neighbours — safe food is a community habit.

Sources