Milk is a vital source of nutrients that are required for the proper growth, development, and functioning of the human body. Its adulteration is a global issue, mainly concerned in developing countries. Unfortunately, mixing milk with many toxic agents leads to various health issues in the consumers. Most of the time safety level and quality are hardly maintained. Milk adulteration is a multi chain process which starts from animal owner, milk man, rural collection centers and finally to mega processing units. The main reason for the adulteration is to get maximum profit without taking in account the health of people due to poverty, lack of education and lack of law enforcement from basic to higher level. In this review, different adulterants added to the milk and the different emerging health issues due to the improper use of these adulterants have been discussed. Adulterants can be detected both qualitatively and quantitatively. These techniques are usually classified based on adulterants, as mostly used adulterants are detected by qualitative techniques and the limited major adulterants are detected by quantitative methods. This is the need of time to create awareness among the community for timely stoppage of such immoral practices to avoid the alarming health issues. This review article would be helpful in creating awareness about the commonly used milk adulterants, their effects on human and animal health and the possible available ways for their detection particularly in the developing countries.

Sara Omar Swar completed my Bachelor's degree in Food Science in 2007 at the College of Agricultural Engineering Science, Food Technology Department, Salahaddin University. In 2014, she earned her M.Sc. degree in Food Microbiology from the same college and department. She went on to receive her PhD in Food Microbiology and Parasitology in 2021 from the College of Science, Biology Department, Soran University. From 2007 to 2021, She served as an Assistant Lecturer and later as a Lecturer in the Food Science Department at Salahaddin University.