ESTIMATION OF STARCH AND SUGARS FOR DETECTION OF POTENTIAL ADULTERATION IN KAJU KATLI, A POPULAR CASHEW NUT BASED INDIAN CONFECTION

Abstract

India has rich varieties of different confections, amongst them kaju katli is highly popular and has great commercial values. Many small and medium scale manufacturers produce kaju katli because of high consumer demand. Because of expensive ingredients, it is more prone to adulteration. This work has attempted to detect starch, sugar, lactose and skim milk powder (SMP) in kaju katli which are most easily available and cheap ingredients for adulterations or dilutions. Cashewnut (65%), and sugar (35%) were the optimum ingredients for kaju katli preparation as studied from sensory analysis. Further, the amount of adulterant and/or diluent in the prepared kaju katli was determined by varying the ingredients and along with adulterant and/or diluent viz. starch (5-35%), sugar (25-50%), lactose (5-30%) and SMP (5-30%), respectively. The quantification of amount of adulterant and/or diluent added and their actual value determined were determined by the correlation and regression studies. The values quantified had very strong relations with quantity added (R2>0.99). This method will be very useful in quantifying the adulterants and/or diluents in kaju katli.