Sweet potato is often adulterated with rhodamine B, a chemical compound and a dye. Naturally, it is non-edible.

Food adulteration is quite a serious and common problem. It happens when something foreign is added to the food to alter its appearance deliberately. It includes adding certain colours, changing its appearance, weight, taste, volume, and shelf life, among other such things. It often gets extremely challenging to differentiate adulterated food from unadulterated food, because of how rampant this problem has become.

One must keep in mind that food adulteration is a serious problem. You may pick up the healthiest-looking fruits and vegetables, but if they are adulterated, there is a risk of getting exposed to toxins.

On its social media platforms, the Food and Safety Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI) keeps sharing videos of how to distinguish healthy foods from those that have artificial properties added to them. Some time ago, it shared one such video in which it explained how to do a simple home test, a DIY method, to identify whether or not a sweet potato is adulterated.

In the video, it showed that sweet potato may be adulterated with rhodamine B, which is a chemical compound and a dye. Naturally, it is non-edible. According to the National Library of Medicine, being a textile dye, rhodamine B is toxic to the human body. It often enters the body when mixed with food, causing oxidative stress on cells and tissues.

In the FSSAI video, they showed that a simple test to determine adulteration involves taking a cotton ball soaked in water or vegetable oil. Next, take a sweet potato and rub its outer surface with the cotton ball. The cotton ball rubbed on the surface of the unadulterated sweet potato will not change its colour, but one that is rubbed on the surface of the adulterated sweet potato will turn reddish violet.

Be mindful of the food you consume.