IIT Hyderabad researchers to develop smartphone sensor for detecting milk adulteration

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad are developing a smartphone-based sensor that will help detect adulteration in milk.

The researchers have developed a detector system to measure the level of acidity in milk using an indicator paper. This paper changes color according to the acidity of the milk. The IIT Hyderabad team has also developed algorithms, which can be incorporated in a smartphone, to accurately detect the change in acidity. 

The research has been undertaken by a team led by Prof Shiv Govind Singh, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad.

Singh said, "While techniques such as chromatography and spectroscopy can be used to detect adulteration, such techniques generally require expensive setup and are not amenable to miniaturization into low-cost easy-to-use devices. Hence, they do not appeal to the vast majority of milk consumers in the developing world."

"We need to develop simple devices that the consumer can use to detect milk contamination. It should be possible to make milk adulteration detection failsafe by monitoring all of these parameters at the same time, without the need for expensive equipment," he added.