Abstract

• Adulteration is the act of making something impure or altering its original form by adding materials or elements that aren’t usually part of it, especially inferior ones. It was aimed to find the adulterants in four seasoning powder such as turmeric, galangal, chili and black pepper. This study was carried out from January to August, 2020. Both raw materials and powders of turmeric, galangal, chili and black pepper were bought from the market and herbal shop. The macroscopic, organoleptic and microscopic characters were observed. As a result of macroscopic characters, some bulb turmeric rhizomes bought from herbal shop are found to be similar to rhizomes of Curcuma zedoaria Roscoe. In an organoleptic inspection, taste of homemade and readymade turmeric powder has slightly bitter because of mixing with Curcuma zedoaria Roscoe. Yellow food coloring matter, metanil yellow in readymade turmeric powder, can be found when it was tested with both concentrated Hydrochloric acid (HCL) and water. Adulteration in readymade chili powder changed the color of water into red due to the presence of food coloring matter. In the iodide test, yellowish brown precipitates in aqueous extract of homemade chili. Adulteration in readymade galangal powder showed cloudy water because of mixing with other condiment containing starch. According to the powder microscopic analysis, the starch grains were found abundantly in three seasoning powder, except chili powder. Altered starch grains and unaltered starch grains were found in both homemade and readymade turmeric powder, but the colour of altered starch grains was deep yellow in readymade turmeric powder. Starch grains were oval in shape that found in readymade chili powder. Readymade galangal powder can be mixed with the powder of Alpinia galangal. As the powdered spices available in the market are often contaminated with the artificial colors and other condiments containing starch, consumers should select right products. Furthermore, it is necessary to maintain its quality and purity for the commercial market.