Illegal addition of organic acids, alcohols, and esters in certain food products are frequently reported. Synthetic pharmaceutical compounds and drugs are also added into food items to induce therapeutic effects. Dietary supplement is the most famous food category in this regard, making headlines in newspapers and food crime logs regularly.
Soymilk possesses similar properties to cow milk. Hence, soymilk is often fraudulently added to cow milk and buffalo milk in preparation of different dairy products. The production cost of soymilk is 70% less than pure milk. A combination of urea, vegetable oil, emulsifier, fat, and nitrogen content provide synthetic milk the same color, specific gravity, and consistency of pure buffalo milk and becomes undetectable. Its milky aroma turns it into a commercially valuable product; thus, 5–10% adulteration of dairy milk has been reported.
Organic acids, such as malic acid, are added to apple juice concentrate to increase commercial value. Unauthorized addition of organic acids, such as citric and tartaric acid, is beneficial because the sensory properties and commercial value of certain type of fruit juices rises with acidity level. Amino acids, such as glycine and glutamic acid or protein hydrolysates, are also added to food items to boost the total amino acid content. Addition of mixture of flavors, organic acids, and sugars is a commonly added chemical cocktail to fruit extract.
The authenticity issues associated with vinegar is related to the raw material source and manufacturing processes. Synthetic acetic acid is produced from non-biological origins obtained from either petroleum derivatives or by pyrolysis of wood. Synthetic acetic acid is reported to be sold as organic acetic acid or mixed with organic acetic acid to increase the volume.
Some adulterated wines are called artificial wine that consists of components organoleptically perceived as grape wine. Water, yeast, sugar, potassium tartarate, crystalline tartaric and citric acids, tannin, glycerol, ethanol, and ethyl esters of high fatty acids are the typical constituents of artificial wine [42]. Glycerol, diethylene glycol, citric acid, and semi-volatile additives, such as propylene glycol, sorbic acid, and benzoic acid, are also mixed for wine enhancement; other compounds, such as rectified alcohols, components of non-grape origin, and natural and synthetic flavor compounds, are also added.
Such alcohols represent alcoholic beverages that either do not possess an official registration in the jurisdiction, are manufactured illegally, or are consumed by cross-border trade. Alcohols that are not produced for human consumption, such as medicinal alcohol, disinfectant alcohol, denatured alcohol, synthetic alcohol, and other industrial alcohols, are often added to alcoholic beverages to increase their alcohol content.
Addition of synthetic pharmaceutical ingredients in dietary supplements is a great concern of the present time. Dietary supplements marketed for various health benefits are fraudulently admixed with pharmaceutical compounds to boost the desired effect on the human body.
Various approved pharmaceutical drugs and their analogues, which are often very difficult to detect, have been found in food supplements advertised as a remedy for diseases. The phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, such as sildenafil citrate, tadalafil hydrochloride, vardenafil hydrochloride, udenafil, mirodenafil hydrochloride, lodenafil carbonate, avanafil, and their unapproved designer analogues, are fraudulently added to herbal supplements. More exotic analogues synthesized by minor modifications to parent structures of approved PDE-5 inhibitors also have been added by traders to make their detection much more difficult. In addition, adulteration with optical isomers of tadalafil has also been reported. Up to the year of 2018, 80 synthetic PDE-5 inhibitors were found in herbal supplements among which, 62% of sildenafil, 26% of tadalafil, 9% of vardenafil, and 3% of others were reported. Analgesics, such as paracetamol, antihistamines, theophylline, bromhexine, diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, glibenclamide, hydrochlorothiazide, aminopyrine, and phenytoin are frequently found in food supplements. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, mefenamic acid, and phenacetin, have also been reported in several dietary supplements.
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