In the Lancet in the 1850s a series of reports described gruesome levels of adulteration in Londoners' food. Following a government inquiry, The Times lauded the supposed hero of the hour, Arthur Hill Hassall MD. In response a furious and acrimonious argument erupted in the letters-pages of The Times and two other medical journals. The details of this argument reveal that not everybody agreed t...

Adulteration of milk with other additives resembling in physico-chemical properties can be done. Vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats, animal body fats and their blends have been reported as adulterants in milk and milk fat products. The scientists at Gujarat Agriculture University, Anand worked on detection of vegetable oils in milk and milk fat by a rapid method. The elevation of butyrorefractom...

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is a premium product that can command a higher price than “standard” olive oils. This makes it highly susceptible to fraudulent activity. A report by the E.U. Committee on the Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety says olive oil is among the products most prone to food fraud. There were 267 oil adulteration incidents reported to the U.S. Pharmaceutical Food F...