Adulterant

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Adulterants are chemical substances which should not be contained within other substances (eg. food, beverages, fuels or pesticide) for legal or other reasons. Adulterants may be intentionally added to substances to reduce manufacturing costs, or for some deceptive or malicious purpose. Adulterants may also be accidentally or unknowingly introduced into substances.

Usage of adulterants was very common and often was a penal offense. A few examples used through the history are:

Mogdad coffee, whose seeds have been used as an adulterant for coffee
Roasted chicory roots were used for the same purpose, starting during the Napoleonic era in France
Roasted ground peas, beans, or wheat used to adulterate roasted chicory
Diethylene glycol, used by some winemakers to fake sweet wines
Oleomargarine or lard, added to butter
Rapeseed oil, commonly added to sunflower oil and soybean oil, brassicasterol being a marker of its presence
Rye flour, corn meal or potato starch used to dilute more expensive flours; alum is also added to disguise usage of lower-quality flour
Apple jellies were substituted for more expensive fruit jellies, with added colorant and sometimes even little pieces of wood that simulated eg. strawberry seeds
Artificial colorants, often toxic - eg. copper, zinc, or indigo-based green dyes added to absinthe
Sudan I yellow color, added to chili powder
Water, for diluting milk and beer
Lower-quality black tea disguised as higher class
Starch, added to sausages
Cutting agents are often used to adulterate (or "cut") illicit drugs

Adulterants can be also added to urine, in order to interfere with the accuracy of drug tests. They are often oxidative in nature - hydrogen peroxide, and bleach have been used, sometimes with pH-adjusting substances like vinegar or sodium bicarbonate. These can be detected by drug testing labs, but some of the less expensive tests do not look for them.