Sunday 2 September 2012

GOKSHURA- Tribulus terrestris


Sanskrit : Gokshura
Latin name : Tribulus terrestris
Family : Zygophyllaceae
Malayalam : Njerinjil

BHANGA-Cannabis sativa




Sanskrit : Bhanga
Latin name : Cannabis sativa
Family : Cannabinaceae
Malayalam : Kanjaavu

DHATAKI-Woodfordia fruticosa

Woodfordia fruticosa
Family: Lythraceae 
Sanskrit: Dhataki
Malayalam: Thaathiri
Useful part: Flower(for fermentation-aristas,asavas)

Friday 3 August 2012

S.No
Adulterant
Foods Commonly Involved
Diseases or Health Effects

Adulterants in food



1
Argemone seeds
Argemone oil
Mustard seeds
Edible oils and fats
Epidemic dropsy,
Glaucoma,
Cardiac arrest
2
Artificially coloured foreign seeds
As a substitute for cumin seed,
Poppy seed, black pepper
Injurious to health
3
Foreign leaves or exhausted tea leaves, saw dust artificially coloured
Tea
Injurious to health, cancer
4
TCP
Oils
Paralysis
5
Rancid oil
Oils
Destroys vitamin A and E
6
Sand, marble chips, stones, filth
Food grains, pulses etc.
Damage digestive tract
7
Lathyrus sativus
Khesari dal alone or
Mixed in other pulses
Lathyrism (crippling spastic paraplegia)

Chemical Contamination



8
Mineral oil (white oil, petroleum fractions)
Edible oils and fats,
Black pepper
Cancer
9
Lead  chromate
Turmeric whole and powdered, mixed spices
Anemia, abortion, paralysis, brain damage
10
Methanol
Alcoholic liquors
Blurred vision, blindness, death
11

Arsenic

Fruits such as apples sprayed over with lead arsenate
Dizziness, chills, cramps, paralysis, death
12

Barium

Foods contaminated by rat poisons (Barium  carbonate)
Violent peristalisis, arterial hypertension, muscular twitching, convulsions, cardiac disturbances
13

Cadmium

Fruit juices, soft drinks, etc. in contact with cadmium plated vessels or equipment. Cadmium contaminated water and shell-fish
‘Itai-itai (ouch-ouch) disease,  Increased salivation, acute gastritis, liver and kidney damage, prostrate cancer
14

Cobalt

Water, liquors
Cardiac insufficiency and mycocardial failure
15

Lead

Water, natural and processed food
Lead poisoning (foot-drop, insomnia, anemia, constipation, mental retardation, brain damage)


16

Copper

Food
Vomiting, diarrhea
17

Tin

Food
Colic, vomiting
18

Zinc

Food
Colic, vomiting
19

Mercury

Mercury fungicide treated seed grains or mercury contaminated fish

Brain damage, paralysis, death

NOTE : Safe limits have been prescribed for above metals in different food. Continuous use of food contaminated with these metals beyond safe limits may cause these diseases


Bacterial contamination



20

Bacillus cereus

Cereal products, custards, puddings, sauces
Food infection (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
21

Salmonella spp.

Meat and meat products, raw vegetables, salads, shell-fish, eggs and egg products, warmed-up leftovers
Salmonellosis (food infection usually with fever and chills)
22

Shigella sonnei

Milk, potato, beans, poultry, tuna, shrimp, moist mixed foods
Shigellosis (bacillary dysentery)
23

Staphylococcus aureus

Entero-toxins-A,B,C,D or E
Dairy products, baked foods especially custard or cream-filled foods, meat and meat products, low-acid frozen foods, salads, cream sauces, etc.
Increased salivation, vomiting, abdominal cramp, diarrhoea, severe thirst, cold sweats, prostration
24

Clostridium botulinus toxins

A,B,E or F
Defectively canned low or medium-acid foods; meats, sausages, smoked vacuum-packed fish, fermented food etc.
Botulism (double vision, muscular paralysis, death due to respiratory failure)
25

Clostridium.perfringens

(Welchii) type A
Milk improperly processed or canned meats, fish and gravy stocks
Nausea, abdominal pains, diarrhoea, gas formation
26

Diethyl stilbestrol (additive in animal feed)

Meat
Sterlites, fibroid tumors etc.
27

3,4 Benzopyrene

Skoked food
Cancer
28

Excessive solvent residue

Solvent extracted oil, oil cake etc.
Carcinogenic effect
29

Non-food grade or contaminated packing material

Food
Blood clot, angiosarcoma, cancer etc.
30

Non-permitted colour or permitted food colour beyond safe limit

Coloured food
Mental retardation, cancer and other toxic effect.
31

BHA and BHT beyond safe limit

Oils and fats
Allergy, liver damage, increase in serum chloresterol etc.
32

Monosodium glutamate(flour) (beyond safe limit)

Chinese food, meat and meat products
Brain damage, mental retardation in infants
33

Coumarin and dihydro coumarin

Flavoured food
Blood anticoagulant
34

Food flavours beyond safe limit

Flavoured food
Chances of liver cancer
35

Brominated vegetable oils

Cold drinks
Anemia, enlargement of heart
36

Sulphur dioxide and sulphite beyond safe limit

In variety of food as preservative
Acute irritation of the gastro-intestinal tracts etc.
37

Artificial sweetners beyond safe limit

Sweet foods
Chances of cancer

Fungal contamination



38

Aflatoxins

Aspergillus flavus-contaminated foods such as groundnuts, cottonseed, etc.
Liver damage and cancer
39

Ergot alkaloids from Claviceps purpurea Toxic alkaloids, ergotamine, ergotoxin and ergometrine groups

Ergot-infested bajra, rye meal or bread
Ergotism (St.Anthony’s fire-burning sensation in extremities, itching of skin, peripheral gangrene)
40

Toxins from

Fusarium sporotrichioides
Grains (millet, wheat, oats, rye,etc)
Alimentary toxic aleukia(ATA) (epidemic panmyelotoxicosis)
41

Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichiella

Moist grains
Urov disease (Kaschin-Beck disease)
42

Toxins from

Penicillium inslandicum
Penicillium atricum,
Penicillium citreovirede,
Fusarium, Rhizopus,
Aspergillus
Yellow rice
Toxic mouldy rice disease
43

Sterigmatocystin from

Aspergillus versicolour
Aspergillus nidulans and bipolaris
Foodgrains
Hepatitis
44

Ascaris lumbricoides

Any  raw food or water contaminated by human faces containing eggs of the parasite
Ascariasis
45

Entamoeba histolytica

Viral

Raw vegetables and fruits
Amoebic dysentery
46

Virus of infectious

Hepatitis (virus A)
Shell-fish, milk, unheated foods contaminated with faeces, urine and blood of infected human
Infectious hepatitis
47

Machupo virus

Foods contaminated with rodents urine, such as cereals
Bolivian haemorrhagic fever

Natural Contamination



48

Flouride

Drinking water, sea foods, tea, etc.
Excess fluoride causes fluorosis (mottling of teeth, skeletal  and neurological disorders)
49

Oxalic acid

Spinach, amaranth, etc.
Renal calculi, cramps, failure of blood to clot
50

Gossypol

Cottonseed flour and cake
Cancer
51

Cyanogenetic compounds

Bitter almonds, apple seeds, cassava, some beans etc.
Gastro-intestinal disturbances
52

Polycyclic Aromatic

Hydrocarbons(PAH)
Smoked fish, meat, mineral oil-contaminated water, oils, fats and fish, especially shell-fish
Cancer
53

Phalloidine (Alkaloid)

Toxic mushrooms
Mushroom poisoning (Hypoglycemia, convulsions, profuse watery stools, severe necrosis of liver leading to hepatic failure and death)
54

Solanine

Potatoes
Solanine poisoning (vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
55

Nitrates and Nitrites

Drinking water, spinach rhubarb, asparagus, etc. and meat products
Methaemoglobinaemia especially in infants, cancer and tumours in the liver, kidney, trachea oesophagus and lungs. The liver is the initial site but afterwards tumours appear in other organs.
56

Asbestos (may be present  in talc, Kaolin, etc. and in processed foods)

Polished rice, pulses, processed foods containing anti-caking agents, etc.
Absorption in particulate form by the body may produce cancer
57

Pesticide residues (beyond safe limit)

All types of food
Acute or chronic poisoning with damage to nerves and vital organs like liver, kidney, etc.
58

Antibiotics (beyond safe limit)

Meats from antibiotic-fed animals
Multiple drug resistance hardening of arteries, heart disease