FSSAI releases Methods of Detecting Adulteration in Ghee

Ghee, also known as clarified butter, is a regular ingredient in the Indian kitchen. It is widely known for its healthy properties and nutritional benefits to the body. In recent years, Ghee is gaining  popularity. Ghee is a unique class of butter. It is prepared by boiling butter to caramelize the milk protein, which is removed. Ghee is the remaining concentrated fat. Due to the increasing demand of ghee, both in India and all around the world, the market is flooded with adulterated ghee. The limited supply and availability of good quality ghee lead to various malpractices among the ghee manufacturers. The Food Authority of India along with the scientific panel on methods of Sampling and Analysis, Scientific Committee came out of a method for detection of adulteration in ghee to check out the purity of ghee. The commonly used adulterants are vegetable oils, animal fats, mineral fats and starch. This method of checking adulteration of ghee is only for four vegetable oils –Soybean oil, Groundnut oil, Coconut oil, and Sunflower oil.

The principle of detection of adulteration of is based on the presence of β-sitosterol and cholesterol as markers in the unsaponifiable matter (USM) for pure ghee and adulterated ghee samples. β-sitosterol is the indicator of low quality and adulteration in ghee by plants and specific dose manner (1-5g/100g of ghee)

The method used for detection of the presence of any vegetable oil suggested by Food Authority is Reversed Phase-High Performance Liquid Chromatography. For the ease of reference for Food Safety Laboratories, The manual from FSSAI also lists the required apparatus and also the required HPLC Conditions to be maintained for the method. The list of chemicals required includes the following: β-sitosterol-Sigma, Sigmasterol-Sigma, 5% Methanolic KOH, n-Hexane (HPLC grade), Chloroform, Methanol, and Cholesterol.

The Confirmation of pure ghee is done by the absence of β-sitosterol. Presence of β-sitosterol is the indication of the addition of vegetable oil. The type of oil adulterated will vary the Limit of Detection (LOD) {Listed in table below}. Any result below 1% should be done carefully and cautiously.Adulterant	Limit of Detection
Coconut Oil	5%
Refined Soybean Oil	1%
Groundnut Oil	2%
Sunflower Oil	1%

This release of reference method for the detection of adulteration of ghee will help protect the consumers by ensuring the quality of ghee available in the market.

References:

1. Order_Method_Manual_Ghee_27_03_2019 (1) pdf. Available at https://fssai.gov.in/home/WhatsNewAll.html. Accessed on: 07.05.2019