Two days before Navratri, food safety teams in Uttar Pradesh worked late into the night and seized 20,924 kg of food worth Rs 66,87,058, from ghee to kuttu atta, according to The Statesman. If there's a fresh tin of ghee in your kitchen right now, that number should make you look twice.
So can you do a food adulteration test at home for these items? Partly. The short answer:
- Ghee: FSSAI's home test checks only for starch. It cannot catch vanaspati or cheaper fats, so the label and the seller matter more.
- Edible oil: coconut oil has a simple fridge test. For other oils, your best check is the pack itself.
- Kuttu and singhara atta: look for insects, webs and lumps, smell it, and buy sealed packs with a clear date.
What did UP's "Shuddh Hi Shubh Hai" drive actually seize?
The Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) has been running its "Shuddh Hi Shubh Hai" campaign since 17 September. On 8 and 9 October 2026, it held a statewide drive. Teams checked units that make, store or sell ghee, milk cream, edible oil, vanaspati, kuttu and singhara atta and other fasting foods, UNI reported. Here is what the department's own figures show, as reported by The Statesman:
- 176 food samples were collected, and 4,273 kg of food found unfit to eat was destroyed.
- In Bareilly, 3,281 kg of ghee was seized from three units. In Etah, 2,544 kg of ghee and butter was seized from one dairy.
- In Lucknow, 748 kg of ghee was seized from one shop, plus 573 kg of food including kuttu atta.
- In Ghaziabad, 2,848 kg of sabudana was seized for misbranding. In Saharanpur, 298 kg of suspicious kuttu atta was seized.
One fair point before you panic: a seizure is not a lab verdict. Stock was seized for irregularities, suspicion or misbranding, and the samples are being sent for lab testing. Still, it shows where the festive-season risk sits. In a 29 September advisory, the regulator asked states to step up checks on milk products, sweets, namkeen, edible oils and ghee before Navratri and Diwali.
Which food adulteration test at home works for ghee?
This is where most online advice goes wrong. FSSAI's DART (Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test) page has just one home test for ghee and butter: the iodine test for starch. Put half a teaspoon of ghee in a clear glass bowl and add 2 to 3 drops of tincture of iodine. If it turns blue, mashed potato, sweet potato or some other starch has been added. Our guide to fake khoya and mithai covers how to check the ghee and fat used in sweets at the shop.
What the iodine test cannot tell you is whether your "desi ghee" has vanaspati, palm oil or another cheap fat mixed in. Fats don't turn blue. And the popular tricks you see online, like melting ghee on your palm or dropping it in water, are not on FSSAI's DART page. Don't trust a tin just because it passed one of them.
So with ghee, your real protection comes before you open the tin:
- Skip unbranded ghee sold from open drums or reused tins, especially at "festival offer" prices. In Agra, inspectors sealed 59 kg of ghee from a dairy after the ghee in a drum appeared adulterated, Amar Ujala reported.
- A price far below the market rate is a warning sign on its own.
- Read the product name, not just the picture. "Ghee", "vanaspati" and "cooking medium" are different products, even if the tin has a cow on it.
How do you check edible oil and vanaspati before buying?
Vanaspati itself is legal. The problem starts when it is passed off as ghee, or cheap oil is sold under a costlier name. For coconut oil, DART gives a test that anyone can do. Pour some oil into a clear glass and keep it in the fridge (not the freezer) for 30 minutes. Pure coconut oil sets solid all through. If another oil is mixed in, it stays as a separate layer, says FSSAI's DART page.
For mustard oil, the rule helps you. FSSAI banned blending mustard oil with any other cooking oil from June 2021, Business Today reported. So a pack sold as mustard oil should contain only mustard oil. If the label mentions any other oil in the mix, put it back.
For other oils, blending two oils is allowed, as long as each oil makes up at least 20% of the blend by weight, as per the same Business Today report. So read the front of the pack carefully. If it says blended or multi-source oil, you are not buying a single oil, whatever the picture shows.
Reheated frying oil is a different problem, covered in can you reuse cooking oil after frying.
How can you tell if kuttu or singhara atta is safe?
Here the bigger risk is often age, moisture and insects, not chemicals. In Agra, 3 out of 14 kuttu samples tested recently had insects in them, and officials said loose flour that is damp or old carries the highest risk, Amar Ujala reported. They advised buying sealed packets.
DART's check for atta is simple: spread a little on a glass plate and look. Sand, soil, insects, webs, lumps, rodent hair and droppings can be spotted with the naked eye, according to FSSAI.
- Webs and lumps are two of the warning signs DART lists, along with insects.
- A bitter, sour or musty smell means the flour has gone off. Throw it out.
- Skip last year's leftover packet. Buy fresh, and only what you need.
Why kuttu makes people sick every Navratri is covered in the Navratri fasting trap. For choosing a flour, see kuttu vs singhara vs rajgira vs sabudana.
What should you check on the label before buying ghee, oil or vrat atta?
Save this for Navratri now and your Dhanteras and Diwali shopping.
| What to check | Ghee | Edible oil / vanaspati | Kuttu / singhara atta |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSSAI logo and licence number | Clearly printed | Clearly printed | Clearly printed |
| Exact product name | "Ghee", not "cooking medium" or "vanaspati" | Single oil, or clearly marked as a blend | Name of the flour, not just "vrat atta" |
| Date | Recent packing date | Recent packing date | Packed recently, well within best before |
| Packing | Sealed tin or jar, no dents or reused tins | Sealed pack, not poured from a drum | Sealed packet, no tears or damp patches |
| Quick home check | Iodine test for starch only | Fridge test for coconut oil | Look for insects, webs, lumps; smell it |
The FSSAI number is compulsory on packaged food labels. A pack with no number, a smudged one, or one that looks pasted on belongs back on the shelf.
Anywhere in India, you can complain on FSSAI's Food Safety Connect app. It also shows basic details of licensed food businesses, and complaints go straight to the local food safety authority, according to an FSSAI press release. Keep your bill too. Since 1 January 2022, food businesses have had to print their FSSAI number on bills and invoices, as per an FSSAI order.
In UP, the toll-free number for adulteration complaints is 1800-180-5533, as per Amar Ujala.
Fasting days also make it easy to forget water. Our water intake calculator helps you work out a sensible daily target.
Frequently asked questions
How can I check if ghee is pure at home?
The only ghee test on FSSAI's DART page is the iodine test, which shows starch by turning blue. It cannot detect vanaspati or other fats mixed in. For those, rely on a trusted brand, a sealed pack, a full label and a fair price.
Is the palm test or water test for ghee reliable?
These tests are not on FSSAI's DART page of home tests. Don't treat a "pass" as proof of purity.
How do I know if kuttu atta has gone bad?
Spread a little on a plate and look for insects, webs and lumps, then smell it. A bitter, sour or musty smell means it is stale. Buy small sealed packs and don't use last year's stock.
If you're stocking up for the festive weeks, you can find Amaayu's functional waters here.
This article is general information, not medical advice.
