How to check the purity of Fresh Milk at Home Easily?

1. How to check the purity of fresh milk at home easily?

2. Introduction • Milk is a common drink of our daily diet. • But not every-time the milk we take is pure; it may have urea, formalin, vanaspati, starch and water as impurity. • Packed milk from some brands as well as milk purchased from milk-vendors can be adulterated so its important to check for them before consuming. • Here are some simple tests that you can perform at home to check the quality of the fresh milk you buy.

3. Water in milk • The presence of water can be detected by putting a drop of milk on a polished slanting surface. • The drop of pure milk flows slowly leaving a white trail behind it, whereas milk adulterated with water will flow immediately without leaving a mark.

4. Starch Test • If your vendor has added starch to milk, you can detect it by adding 2 tablespoons to salt (iodine) to 5 ml of milk. • Mixture will turn blue if milk is adulterated else it remains intact.

5. Checking for Synthetic Milk • Synthetic milk is made by mixing chemicals and things like soap in natural milk. • Synthetic milk can be easily identified by bad taste. • It feels soapy when rubbed and turns yellowish when heated.

6. Reduction Test • Boil milk on slow heat for 2-3 hours till it solidifies and become hard (khoya). • Rock solid, rough residue means the milk is adulterated while oily residue means its of good quality.

7. Vanaspati/Dalda in milk • Vanaspati is not good for health if consumed in big quantity. • To check if milk is adulterated with vanaspati, add 2 tbps of hydrochloric acid and 1 tbsp of sugar to 1 tbsp of milk. • If the mixture turns red, its impure.

8. Formalin in milk • Formalin is used for preservation purposes. • Since its transparent in color and can preserve milk for long time, packaged manufacturers use it for adulteration purposes.  • To test for formalin existence in milk, take 10 ml of milk in test tube and put 2-3 drops of sulphuric acid into it.  • If a blue ring appears at the top, milk is adulterated else not.

9. Test for urea in milk • One of the most common form of adulteration in milk is mixing of urea since it doesn’t changes the taste and is little difficult to detect. • To check for urea in milk, mix half tablespoon of milk and soyabean (or arhar) powder together and shake well. • After 5 minutes, dip litmus paper for 30 seconds and if there is a color change from red to blue it means the milk has urea in it.

10. Lactometer • Using the lactometer instrument is very simple. • Put some milk in the test-tube. • Dip the meter bulb in it, the bulb going in first. • You will notice that the meter bulb floats. • The reading on the meter indicates how pure or impure your milk is. • The deeper the bulb sinks, the more dilute/impure the milk. • If the reading is at the red mark, it shows that the milk is rich and pure.

11. Conclusion • More than 65% of milk sold in India is impure. • It either has water or any other type of impurity in them. • Though government is taking steps to stop such activities but its also our job to ensure we’re taking fresh, nutritious, non-adulterated food products. • Frezu provides pure farm fresh cow milk directly from the farm to the customers, there is no chance of adulteration and mixing water.

12. References • https://gyandairy.com/check-purity/ • http://cyberhowto.com/check-adulteration-in-milk-at-home/ • https://recipes.timesofindia.com/articles/features/5-ways-you-can-tell-if-milk-is-adulterated/photostory/55955892.cms?picid=55955909 • https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/how-to-check-if-your-milk-is-adulterated-57584 • http://vikaspedia.in/health/health-campaigns/beware-of-adulteration/adulteration-in-milk-and-milk-products

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