ADULTERATION

ADULTERATION

Definition:

Adulteration is the debasement of the article. Adulterant resembles in color, size, and shape of genuine drug.

Method of adulteration:

The adulteration may be deliberate or accidental

 Accidental adulteration is due to-

Carelessness, ignorance or due to lack of knowledge.

Deliberate adulteration is done to get high price of drug. Adulteration involves following

Conditions- .

1.      Spoilage, 2. Deterioration.  3. Inferiority. 4. Substitution.

Method of Adulteration: -

1.         Replacement by Exhausted Drug

It is usual in case of costly drugs like clove, Ginger, fennel, Tea, etc. The active chemical constituents are exhausted from these drugs & exhausted drug is colored properly & mixed with genuine drug.

2.         Substitution by Similar in appearance but inferior drugs: -

If the drug has not reached minimum standards of quality then it is known as inferior drug. These inferior drugs are used for adulteration.

e. g. Digitalis leaves, which contain less amount of glycosides are used as adulterant in gunine digitalis leaves.

3.         Substitution by artificially prepared adulterants: -

e. g. i) Paraffin wax is colored yellow & is mixed with bees wax. ii) Artificial invert sugar is mixed with honey.

4.         Substitution by substandard commercial Varieties :-

i) Capsicum annum is used to mix with Capsicum minimum. ii) Seeds of Strychnous nux blanda are used as adulterant in the seeds of Strychnous nuxvomica.

5.         Presence of Organic matter from the same plant: -

i) Clove stalks are used as adulterant in cloves. ii) Parts Of inflorescence of fennel, caraway, and coriander are used to mix in fennel, caraway & coriander respectively.

6.         Addition of synthetic chemical: -

i) Benzyl benzoate is added to Peru balsam. ii) Addition of Citral  to Lemon grass      

Oil