Investigation of Hazardous Food Additives in Indian Packaged Pickles through Chemical and Spectrophotometric Analyses

Abstract

Pickles are the most popular accompaniment with a meal in almost every Indian household due to their rich flavor, taste enhancing properties and long shelf life. Packaged pickles are even more appealing due to their convenient usage. However, similar to any other packaged foods, pickles are also not out of the grip of adulteration. Multiple recent incidents, spreading across India, indicate indiscriminate use of synthetic preservatives, unpermitted colors and antioxidants in packaged pickles. With the growing popularity of “organic” food among the consumers, more and more pickles are being marketed as “ORGANIC” which claims to be free of any hazardous additives. Unfortunately, many of these pickles are without any authorized certification for the same. Therefore, it is highly important to analyze these pickles for detection and quantification of any possible hazardous additives in those.

In the current study, 15 commercially available Indian packaged pickles were investigated for the presence of preservatives like Benzoic acid (BA), antioxidants, such as, Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and unpermitted colors such as Sudan IV and Metanil Yellow. Out of 15, eight pickles are of conventional/regular type, five are from uncertified organic type and two are from certified organic category. BA and BHA were analyzed quantitatively by titrimetric and spectrophotometric methods, respectively, whereas BHT and Sudan IV were analyzed qualitatively by thin layer chromatography and spectrophotometry, respectively. All 15 samples tested negative for BHT, Sudan IV and Metanil yellow, implying that the usage of these three additives are satisfactorily regulated in the pickle manufacturing sector.  Use of BA and BHA in conventional pickle was also found to be satisfactory, as only one of those products exceeded the permissible limit. However, the situation was disappointing for “certified organic” and “marketed as organic” products. Those were found to contain BHA and BA which are completely non-permitted in organic products.

Findings from this project are expected to help in implementing better quality control regulations, besides creating awareness among customers about hazardous food additives in packaged pickles.