Below is the List of Food Adulterants and their effects on our health:

Sr. No	Adulterants	Foods Commonly Used	Diseases or Health Effects
	Adulterants in Food
1.	Argemone Seeds Argemone Oil	Mustard Seeds Edible Oils and Fats	Epidemic Dropsy Glaucoma Cardiac arrest
2.	Artificially coloured foreign seeds	As a substitute for cumin seed, Poppy seed, black pepper	Injurious to health
3.	Foreign leaves or exhausted tea leaves, saw dust artificially coloured	Tea	Injurious to health, cancer
4.	TCP	Oils	Paralysis
5.	Rancid Oil	Oils	Destroys Vitamin A and E
6.	Sand, marble chips, stones, filth	Food grains, pulses etc.	Damage digestive tract
7.	Lathyrus Sativus	Khesari dal alone or mixed in other pulses	Lathyrism (crippling spastic paraplegia)
	Chemical Contamination
8.	Mineral Oil (white oil, petroleum fractions)	Edible oils and fats, Black pepper	Cancer
9.	Leadchromate	Turmeric whole and powdered, mixed spices	Anemia, abortion, paralysis, brain damage
10.	Methanol	Alcoholic liquors	Blurred vision, blindness, death
11.	Arsenic	Fruits such as apples, sprayed over with lead arsenate	Dizziness, chills, cramps, paralysis,, death
12.	Barium	Foods contaminated by rat poisons (Bariumcarbonate)	Violent peristalisis, arterial hypertension, muscular twitching, convulsions, cardiac disturbances
13.	Cadmium	Fruits juices, soft drinks etc. in contact with cadmium plated vessels or equipment. Cadmium contaminated water and shell – fish.	‘Itai – itai (ouch – ouch) disease, increased salivation, acute gastritis, liver and kidney damage, prostate cancer
14.	Cobalt	Water, Liquors	Cardiac insufficiency and mycocardial failure
15.	Lead	Water, natural and processed food	Lead poisoning (foot – drop, insomnia, anemia, constipation, mental retardation, brain damage)
16.	Copper	Food	Vomiting, diarrhoea
17.	Tin	Food	Colic, vomiting
18.	Zinc	Food	Colic, vomiting
19.	Mercury	Mercury fungicide treated seeds grains or mercury contaminated fish	Brain damage, paralysis, death
NOTE	Safe limits have been prescribed for above metals in different food. continuous use of food contaminated with these metals
20.	Bacillus cereus	Cereal products, custards, puddings, sauces	Food infection (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
21.	Salmonella spp.	Meat and meat products, raw vegetables, salads, shell – fish, eggs and egg products, warmed up leftovers	Salmonellosis (food infection usually with fever and chills)
22.	Shigella sonnei	Milk, potato, beans, poultry, tuna, shrimp, moist mixed foods	Shigellosis ( bacillary dysentery)
23.	Staphylococcus aureus Entero – toxins – A, B, C, D or E	Dairy products, baked foods especially custard or cream – filled foods, meat and meat products, low acid frozen foods, salads, cream sauces etc.	Increased salivation, vomiting, abdominal cramp, diarrhoea, severe thirst, cold sweats, prostration
24.	Clostridium botulinus toxins A,B, E or F	Defectively canned low or medium – acid foods, meats, sausages, smoked vacuum – packed fish, fermented food etc.	Botulism (double vision, muscular paralysis, death due to respiratory failure)
25.	Clostridium perfringens (Welchii) type A	Milk improperly processed or canned meats, fish and gravy stocks	Nausea, abdominal pains, diarrhoea, gas formation
26.	Diethyl stilbestrol (additive in animal)	Meat	Sterlites, fibroid tumors etc.
27.	3, 4 Benzopyrene	Skoked food	Cancer
28.	Excessive solvent residue	Solvent extracted oil, oil cake etc.	Carcinogenic effect
29.	Non – food grade or contaminated packing material	Food	Blood clot, angiosarcoma, cancer etc.
30.	Non – permitted colour or permitted food colour beyond safe limit	Coloured food	Mental retardation, cancer and other toxic effect.
31.	BHA and BHT beyond safe limit	Oils and fats	Allergy, liver damage, increase in serum chloresterol etc.
32.	Monosodium glutamate (flour) (beyond safe limit)	Chinese food, meat and meat products	Brain damage, mental retardation in infants
33.	Coumarin and dihydro coumarin	Flavoured food	Blood anticoagulant
34.	Food flavours beyond safe limit	Flavoured food	Chances of liver cancer
35.	Brominated vegetable oils	Cold drinks	Anemia, enlargement of heart
36.	Sulphur dioxide and sulphite beyond safe limit	In variety of food as preservative	Acute irritation of the gastro – intestinal tracts etc.
37.	Artificial sweeteners beyond safe limit	Sweet foods	Chances of cancer
	Fungal Contamination
38.	Ergot alkaloids from Claviceps purpurea Toxic alkaloids, ergotamine, ergotoxin and ergometrine groups	Ergot – infested bajra, rye meal or bread	Ergotism (St. Anthony’s fire burning sensation in extremities, itching of skin, peripheral gangrene)
39.	Alfatoxins	Aspergillus flavus – contaminated foods such as groundnuts, cottonseed etc.	Liver damage and cancer
40.	Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichiella	Moist grains	Urov disease (kaschin – Beck disease)
41.	Toxins from Fusarium sporotrichioides	Grains (millet, wheat, oats, rye etc.)	Alimentary toxic aleukia (ATA) (epidemic panmyelotoxicosis)
42.	Toxins from Penicillium inslandicum Penicillium citreovirede Fusarium, Rhizopus, Aspergillus	Yellow Rice	Toxic mouldy rice disease
43.	Sterigmatocystin from Aspergillus versicolour Aspergillus nidulans and bipolaris	Foodgrains	Hepatitis
44.	Ascaris lumbricoides	Any raw food or water contaminated by human faeces containing eggs of the parasite	Ascariasis
45.	Entamoeba histolytica Viral	Raw vegetables and fruits	Amoebic dysentery
46.	Virus of infectious Hepatitis (A)	Shell – fish, milk, unheated foods contaminated with faeces, urine and blood of infected human	Infectious hepatitis
47.	Machupo virus	Foods contaminated with rodents urine, such as ccereals	Bolivian haemorrhagic fever
	Natural Contamination
48.	Fluoride	Drinking water, sea foods, tea etc.	Excess fluoride causes fluorosis (mottling of teeth, skeletal and neurological disorders)
49.	Oxalic acid	Spinach, amaranth etc.	Renal calculi, cramps, failure of blood to clot
50.	Gossypol	Cottonseed flour and cake	Cancer
51.	Polycyclic aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)	Smoked fish, meat, mineral oil – contaminated water, oils, fats and fish, especially shell – fish	Cancer
52.	Cyanogenetic compounds	Bitter almonds, apple seeds, cassava, some beans etc.	Gastro – intestinal disturbances
53.	Phalloidine (alkaloid)	Toxic mushrooms	Mushroom poisoning (Hypoglycemia, convulsions, profuse watery stools, severe necrosis of liver leading to hepatic failure and death)
54.	Solanine	Potatoes	Solanine poisoning (vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea)
55.	Nitrate and nitrites	Drinking water, spinach, rhubarb, asparagus, etc. and meat products	Methaemoglobinaemia especially in infants, cancer and tumours in the liver, kidney, trachea oesophagus and lungs. The liver is the initial site but afterwards tumours appear in other organs.
56.	Asbestos (may be presentin talc, Kaolin etc. and in processed foods)	Polished rice, pulses, processed foods containing anti – caking agents etc.	Absorption in particulate form by the body may produce cancer
57.	Pesticide residues (beyond safe limit)	All types of food	Acute or chronic poisoning with damage to nerves and vital organs like liver kidney etc.
58.	Antibiotic beyond safe limits	Meats from antibiotic – fed animals	Multiple drug resistance hardening of arteries, heart disease.

Sources : http://www.agmarknet.nic.in/adulterants.htm