Check milk purity at home: Milk could be a standard drink of our daily diet. But not every time the milk we take is pure; it might have urea, formalin, starch & water as an impurity. Packed milk from reputed brands also as purchased from milk vendors could also be adulterated thus it’s necessary to check the quality of the milk before consuming. There are various ways available to test milk purity at home, here we are listing down some of them.
Table of Contents
Purity/Reduction test
Boil the milk on slow heat for 2 to 3 hours until it solidifies & becomes onerous (khoya). If Rock solid, rough residue is found in the pan that means the milk is adulterated while oily residue means it’s of good quality and safe to consume. this is a good way to test milk purity at home.
Milk slip test or Water in milk
Water in milk would not be dangerous for any individual’s health however it would be expensive for your budget. To check the purity of this milk, Put a drop of milk on a polished vertical clean surface. If the milk stops or flows slowly, leaving a white trail behind then it’s pure milk. If Milk is mixed with water or any other agents would flow down immediately without a trace mark in it. this is the easiest way to test milk purity at home.
Checking for Synthetic Milk
Synthetic milk is created by combining chemicals & many other things like soap in natural pure milk. Synthetic milk can be simply identified by the bad taste and It feels soapy when rubbed and always turns yellowish when heated in a pot.
Starch in milk
If your milk vendor has added starch to the milk, you will be able to find it by adding two tablespoons of salt (salt which has iodine in it) to 5 ml of the milk if the mixture turns blue then the milk is impure else if it remains intact then it’s pure milk.
Formalin in milk
Formalin is widely used for preservation purposes. Formalin is transparent in colour and has the ability to preserve the milk for a long time, packaged manufacturers use Formalin for adulteration purposes. To test for formalin existence in milk, take the 10 milliliters of milk in a test tube and just put 2 to 3 drops of sulphuric acid into it. If a blue ring seems at the highest, milk is adulterated else not, usually this test seems to be difficult at home due to the availability of sulphuric acid but we could use the laundry detergents, pet-care products, hand soaps, dish-washing liquids, metal cleaners, rust-dissolving solutions, and rain repellents.
Urea in milk
One of the most common kinds of adulteration in milk is the mixing of urea since it doesn’t change the taste of the milk and also is small tough to discover. To test the urea in milk just mix half of the tablespoon of milk and soyabean (or arhar) powder together and then shake it well. After five minutes need to dip the litmus paper for thirty seconds and if there’s a colour amendment from red to blue it means that the milk has urea in it and it’s not pure.
Sweetness test
Pure milk is naturally very sweet. If the milk in your fridge tastes bitter or sour, then the milk is either stale or has the possibility of being adulterated with detergent or soda.
Sniff check
Synthetic milk can easily be identified by bad taste or odour. All you have to do is sniff! If you can sense a soapy odour and if it feels soapy when rubbed with fingers, then it’s clear that the milk has been made by mixing some chemicals in it.
These adulterants have dangerous effects on everyone’s health so please be aware of the quality of the milk you consume as it is an important part of our daily diet and especially for our kid’s diet.
Many such milk impurity test kits are available on online e-commerce shopping websites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc.
Harmful Effects of Contaminated Milk
The demand for milk is always high because of its daily consumption demand. And it always shoots up during festivals seasons. Therefore, managing the supply at that season is a challenge and it gives ample opportunity to many peoples to do the adulteration and meet the demand gap and make huge profits from it.
Generally, the harmful effects of consuming adulterated or contaminated milk on a regular basis can lead to the below problems:
- Issues related to the heart
- Cancer
- Malfunctioning of organs
- Poor eyesight
- Kidney issues
- Death
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned India that if the milk adulteration is not stopped anyhow then a major portion of the Indian population might face life-threatening diseases by the year 2025.
The severity of milk contamination and adulteration will depend upon how it has been contaminated, means which kind of chemicals, and the kind of adulteration process used. Here’s a list of adulterants used in milk and their harmful effects.
| Adulterant | Harmful effects |
| Melamine | Kidney-related problems and most dangerous to health |
| Starch | It could cause diarrhea. Too much accumulation can be problematic for diabetics |
| Urea | Can take a toll on a people’s kidneys |
| Oxytocin injection | Oxytocin is a hormone, and injections laced with it are given to cows and buffaloes so that they can produce more milk easily. The major health scare associated with this is that some quantity of the hormone injected in cattle is also been transmitted to the person drinking the contaminated milk, which can cause problems related to eyes, kidney, heart, etc. |
| Formalin | This is a disinfectant used to preserve biological samples. However, it has been noted that it is used to increase milk’s shelf-life. Consuming milk laced with formalin can cause skin problems and even Cancer. |
| Hydrogen peroxide | Concerns related to the digestive system |
| Detergents | Intestine and kidney issues |
Nearly 38% of Milk Sold in India Do Not Meet Govt’s Quality Standards
– October 21, 2019