Question

Explain an experiment to detect the presence of argemone oil in edible oil.

Answer 1

We know that argemone oil is extracted from argemone seeds and edible oil is fat of plant, animal or microbial origin, which is liquid at room temperature and is suitable for food use.

Complete step by step solution:
Argemone oil is mixed with sunflower oil and sesame oil to increase their quantity. Consumption of this oil leads to health disorders among children. Many oil brands mention no argemone oil on their packs.
Edible oil is also known as cooking oil. The generic term "vegetable oil" when used to label a cooking oil product refers to a blend of a variety of oils often based on palm, corn, soybean or sunflower oils.
Below given is the method for detecting the presence of argemone oil in edible oil:
First take 5ml of cooking oil and add equal amounts of concentrated $HN{{O}_{3}}$ to cooking oil.
Then stirrer the solution using a glass rod and if after some time a reddish brown colour appears at the bottom of the test tube, then it confirms the presence of argemone oil in edible oil.

Note: Argemone oil as a contaminant of a widely used cooking oil derived from mustard seed. Argemone oil has led to outbreaks of so-called 'epidemic dropsy' in many tropical countries.