How to check whether your vegetables are adulterated

How do you find out whether those green leafy vegetables, which you bought fresh from the market, are adulterated? Green leafy vegetables are associated with a number of health benefits: they protect your body against many life-threatening diseases and also keep your bones and gut healthy. Therefore, it is crucial that you make sure you are not consuming adulterated vegetables which lead to serious health issues.

How veggies are adulterated
There are many ways by which your green leafy vegetables are adulterated. Some vendors inject pesticides for ripening; some add synthetic colours or malachite green and wax coating to make them appear shinier and greener. There could also be other less known ways to adulterate your veggies.

How to check for adulteration

There is a simple method to find out whether your veggies are adulterated or not. It comes in a video brought out by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). And it involves 4 easy steps.

Here's the video released by the FSSAI:



Remember these 4 steps
Take a cotton ball, dipped in liquid paraffin
Rub or dab it on the outer green surface of the green vegetable
If there is no colour change on the cotton, the vegetable is unadulterated
If the cotton turns green, the vegetable is adulterated

What you need to know about Malachite Green
It is one of the most common adulterants for giving a lush green finish to your veggies. Its use could lead to severe health issues among humans.

Malachite green, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), has been widely used as antifungal agent in the fish farming industry. It is also used extensively in textile industries for dyeing nylon, wool, silk, leather, and cotton. Malachite green can cause carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, chromosomal fractures, teratogenicity and respiratory toxicity.