K. T. ACHAYA AND B. N.
BANERJEE
145
wide variety of influences inherent in any physiological product, with the inevitable corollary that
we have no quick or reliable test for the detection of its adulteration. One of the most character-
istic values for butterfat, the Reichert-Meissl value for example, varies for genuine ghee from 40
to 14 and a strict legislation at a high level is not fair to the producer of genuine ghee of low R.M.
value ; even in the interests of the detection of adulteration it is not desirable to fix the R.M. value
at so high a level (24 or 28) as to cause the producer of such genuine low R.M. ghee to artificially
manipulate his product to conform to specifications often at the cost of quality, purity and value.
An attempt will be made below to give an account of the causes for variation in the ' constants '
of ghee, the methods recommended for the detection of its adulteration, and the lines for future work
and legislation with the old adage regarding an ounce of prevention in mind : for it must never be
forgotten that the difficulties in the detection of adulteration are enormously augmented with pro-
crastination, as the sophisticator advances in a knowledge of the chemistry of his product.
THE VARIATIONS IN THE CONSTANTS OF GHEE
Of the many causes that are responsible for variations in ghee, the most important will be briefly
mentioned. These represent a genuine and impossible-to-prevent difficulty in the way alike of
analyst and sophisticator, and must therefore be appreciated by both.
Breed and species. "While the idiosyncrasies of western breeds of animals, such as the well-
known peculiarity of cows of the Channel Isles of excluding colouring matters to a smaller extent
from entering their milk fat, are widely realized, Indian breeds of animals have not received much
attention. The work of Doctor, Banerjee and Kothavalla [1940] shows that breed variations are
quite manifest in Indian cows, since within each breed (Sindhi, Gir, cross-bred, etc.) the analytical
values were remarkably constant but differed from breed to breed. Also Indian cows exhibited
much less carotene and vitamin-A in their milk fats than foreign, and Indian buffaloes even less.
The average values of these workers are shown in Table I.
TABLE I
Breed variations of Indian animals
Breed
Ayrshire . . . . .
Cross-bred
.
.
.
.
.
Sindhi
.
.
.
.
.
Gir
.
.
.
.
.
Murrah buffalo
.
.
.
.
.
Melting
point
º C.
36.0
36.3
37.2
36.2
37.0
B.R.
at
40°C.
45.0
44.5
44.6
44.1
43.6
R.M.
23.3
26.2
25.9
27.5
30.6
P.V.
2.0
2.0
2.3
2.3
1.5
K.V.
19.9
21.1
20.1
22.0
26.7
S.V.
221
225
224
227
232
l.V.
39.3
38.3
39.0
39.1
31.2
Carotene
mg./
100g.
0.77
0.65
0.49
0.41
0.05
Vitamin A.
B.U./g.
19.2
18.2
15.7
15.2
14.3
The work of Achaya, Katrak and Banerjee [1946] indicated the species variations of buffalo
as distinct from cow ghee. The former had an average colour of 1-2 Lovibond Yellow Units per
gram compared to the 5-6 of cow ghee. They also pointed out some remarkable characteristics of
buffalo ghee as a whole—wider ranges of values, lower iodine values, low Polenske values and a much
smaller range for the refractive index than for cow ghee. The results are set forth later and so will
not be elaborated further.
Method of preparation. Rangappa and Banerjee [1946], have shown that cow ghee, whether
made directly from cream or by the desi curd process, has almost the same colour, but that
buffalo ghee is nearly twice as yellow when made by the curd process than by the other,
probably indicating that a part of the colour of buffalo ghee is water-soluble. (A further possibly
related peculiarity brought out in the work of Banerjee and Dastur [1937] is that the vitamin A
of buffalo ghee is relatively less stable to heat than that in cow ghee of the same potency). The acidity
of ghee by the curd is always higher than by the cream process, the more so if the boiling and not