Background::
Ghee consists of 98- 99% triglycerides and this very composition of ghee is being exploited by unscrupulous traders to adulterate ghee with concoction of oils/ fats. The most common adulterant in ghee is the vegetable oils either alone or in the form of concoction of multiple oils. The existing physico-chemical constants specified in standard are there to take care of this adulteration menace in ghee, but unscrupulous traders are so meticulous in executing the unethical practices that in many cases samples escape the testing and meet the standards specified. Therefor the approach of detecting the some tracer component in milk fat which is either foreign to milk fat or present in traces was explored. Hence, looking into the ease of operation and simplicity of the technique, a Thin layer chromatographic (TLC) approach was developed and methodology to prepare a kit involving the necessary components to carry out this experiment was developed.:
Technology Details::
In small dairy plants, it is better to provide the testing methodology in the form of kit is more useful, because the procurement of needed materials each time is cumbersome. Hence, the methodology used to construct the kit can be purchased by the suppliers/ manufacturers/ plant owners of multiple dairy processing units. This will enable the individual users to purchase the kit from these suppliers and use it for testing the quality of milk fat/ ghee with reference to vegetable oil addition in ghee.