Before Diwali, the Food Safety Department team raided many places. Where they recovered a large quantity of adulterated cheese and milk. Today we are going to tell you how to identify fake milk and cheese at home.
As soon as Diwali was about to arrive, news of fake sweets, fake mawa, adulterated milk and cheese started appearing in the headlines from various places. Recently, 14 bags of milk powder along with 70 quintals of synthetic cheese were seized from Rae Bareli, UP. In Roorkee too, when the Food Safety Department team raided, about 10 quintals of cheese was seized from a factory. The most surprising case which is in the news these days is related to the famous online food delivery app Zomato. A user has told through his post on X how Zomato is selling fake paneer to restaurants. This fake cheese is called analog cheese and synthetic cheese. These are just a few cases of adulterated milk and cheese, whereas many such cases are coming to light every day.
What is this synthetic cheese and milk powder?
Actually, traditional method is used to make cheese in which cheese is made by curdling milk with the help of vinegar or lemon. However, to save money, some businessmen in the market choose the route of making fake i.e. synthetic cheese. To make it, instead of milk, vegetable fat, starch and many chemicals are used. It looks and tastes exactly like real cheese but it can have many side effects on our health. Similarly, synthetic milk powder is also prepared, which is widely used in making sweets.
These are serious side effects on health
The cheese that you eat after bringing it home considering it healthy can have many side effects on your health. Synthetic cheese is very harmful for your heart health. Apart from this, it can also be responsible for many stomach related diseases in which you may have problems like stomach ache, gas, bloating and diarrhea immediately after eating. All these problems can also be seen on eating sweets made from adulterated milk. According to Food Safety Standard Authority of India FSSAI, eating adulterated food items can increase the risk of diseases including cancer.
How to identify yourself sitting at home
The easiest way to check fake cheese is to crush it with your hands. If it breaks easily after being crushed a little, then understand that the cheese is not real. Actually, real cheese has a lot of smoothness and it does not break easily. Apart from this, there is another way by which you can check fake cheese sitting at home. For this, boil cheese in water. Once boiled, leave it to cool. Now make some pigeon pea powder and add it to it. If the water of the cheese turns red after 10 minutes, then understand that it has been adulterated.
You can also do an easy test at home to identify fake milk. For this take a glass. Now add about 5 ml milk in it. Add exactly the same amount of water. Now shake this mixture vigorously. If any foam forms then understand that detergent has been adulterated in it. Apart from this, you can also identify adulteration in milk with the help of iodine tincture. For this, boil two to three ml milk and let it cool. Now add two to three drops of iodine in milk. If the milk is real then its color will be slightly yellow. Whereas if the milk is fake then its color will appear blue.