Assessment of ghee adulterated with oils and fats in Bangladesh

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at determining the existence of oils and fats in ghee manufactured in Bangladesh and to validate the nature of the impurity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, a ghee sample was prepared in the laboratory by following standard methods and was used as a control sample. On the other hand, 19 ghee samples, including five branded samples (B1-B5), and 14 local samples (L1-L14) were collected from different manufacturers. The ghee samples were assessed for fat composition, Reichert Meissl (RM), saponification, Polenske, acid, Kirschner, and butyro refractometer (BR) values. To validate the ghee samples, vegetable oils and body fats were mixed in different ratios and then analyzed. CONCLUSION: Local samples, L4, L6, L7, L8, L10, L12, L13, and L14, were assumed to be adulterated with external oils and fats. The quality of local ghee is questionable, as the samples contained more than 8% moisture, whereas pure ghee had less than 0.5% moisture.