A Quick, Simple and Reliable Method for Detection of Urea in Adulterated Milk

Ashok Kumar¹, Hemant Kumar¹, N. B. Tulsani¹ and A. P. Joshi²

¹Centre for Biochemical Technology, University Campus, Mall Road, Delhi -110 007, India.

²National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411 008, India.

ABSTRACT:

Milk is an essential nutrient for human and animals. It is used as milk as welt as in the form of milk products, Mail constituents of milk are carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water. Due to the large demand of milk, the milkmaids add water to it to make it more profitable. However, addition of water results in the decrease of specific gravity of the milk For Vie same reason an alternate route of adding urea, oils and detergents are found which not only maintains the specific gravity of the milk but are also economical. This practice of adulterating the milk, though harmful for the human beings, is increasing day-by-day, particularly in metropolis. Therefore, a quick and reliable method is required to detect the urea in the milk by the customers as well as by the supervising inspectors. We have developed a quick, simple, reliable and economical method for the detection of urea in the milk. This involves the use of urease, which reacts with the milk urea to liberate ammonia. Subsequently the liberated ammonia reacts with a specific dye and the colour of tie milk is changed to blue colour. The development of colour is quick and is visible with the naked eye. The control will not show any colour even after adding the dye.

KEYWORDS:

Milk; carbohydrates alternate; Subsequently

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Copy the following to cite this article: Kumar A, Kumar H, Tulsani N. B, Joshi A. P. A Quick, Simple and Reliable Method for Detection of Urea in Adulterated Milk. Orient J Chem 1998;14(2).

Copy the following to cite this URL: Kumar A, Kumar H, Tulsani N. B, Joshi A. P. A Quick, Simple and Reliable Method for Detection of Urea in Adulterated Milk. Orient J Chem 1998;14(2). Available from: http://www.orientjchem.org/?p=21860