Study reveals ‘fake ghee’ from carrot extract can pass quality tests — but is it really healthier than real ghee?

For Indian families, ghee isn’t just one ingredient in the food sitting in our kitchen or at the dining table — it’s part of culture, lore, rituals, Ayurveda, and daily life. This makes ghee adulteration one of the country’s most stubborn food fraud issues.In today’s time, “fake” ghee remains one of India's most persistent food fraud problems. As the price of pure dairy ghee continues to climb, manufacturers and sellers often look for cheaper substitutes such as vegetable oils, vanaspati, palm oil, and other fats to increase profits.Now, researchers at IIT (Banaras Hindu University) recently uncovered something strange: carrot extract can help fake ghee pass certain quality tests, making adulteration harder to spot.So, if carrot extract fools the tests, does that mean fake ghee is healthy?Let’s unpack.In a new study, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU), found that carrot extract might help fake ghee slip past some quality tests, making it even tougher to spot the real deal from clever imitations. This study speaks to just how crafty food adulteration has become, and needless to say, it is quite worrisome. Because it's not just about mixing in cheap fats anymore — fraudsters are now using natural ingredients to tweak the way fake ghee looks and acts during tests, so it passes as genuine.There’s no denying that making true ghee is costly, as pure ghee takes a ton of milk fat, which doesn’t come cheap. So there’s always been a strong temptation to cheat. People have so far mixed in vanaspati, vegetable oils, palm or coconut oil, cottonseed oil, or other cheap fats, but slapped a "pure ghee" label on the container.But now, IIT-BHU researchers have found that carrot extract can mess with those test results, making doctored samples look more like real ghee. It’s not that carrots themselves are bad or harmful for you; the worry is that this kind of natural masking agent can throw off even reliable checks, which puts regulators in a tight spot.But how did the researchers find carrot extract in “fake ghee”?Throughout the food industry, fraudsters are always finding new ways to stay one step ahead. To fight back, scientists are turning to next-gen tools like Raman spectroscopy, chromatography, machine learning, and computer vision. Unlike traditional screening, spectroscopic methods can catch palm oil at much lower concentrations, really raising the bar for catching fraud.So, this IIT-BHU study fits right into a larger race, as scientists are working to outpace the latest tricks in food faking.And this isn’t just a lab issue. There’s been no shortage of ghee scandals in India lately. Investigations have exposed shady procurement practices and revealed all-too-common vegetable fat contamination, even in brands sold as “pure ghee.”When you look at the health impact, it comes down to what’s getting mixed in. Vanaspati, a hydrogenated fat made to mimic dairy, still shows up often. Even though new rules have cut industrial trans fats, vanaspati is still different from the real thing. Scientists point out that hydrogenated fats, overall, have been tied to more heart risks and other health issues.Other fakes, like palm oil, refined veggie oils, and synthetic blends, aren’t necessarily toxic, but they’re still cheating the customer. People buying “genuine” ghee end up with something that’s not the same, especially when you look at nutrition. The difference is real.So now, if carrot extract fools the tests, does that mean fake ghee is healthy?The answer to that question isn’t exactly linear.Traditional quality checks rely on chemical and physical differences between real milk fat and cheaper substitutes. Adding natural carrot extract changes the color and antioxidant profile, making adulterated fat look more authentic. This complicates things for regulators and testing labs trying to weed out fraud.Now, adulteration is getting more complex. Over the years, studies have shown that fraudsters use a mix of vegetable oils, hydrogenated fats, and blended oils, crafted especially to avoid detection by standard tests. That’s why scientists have developed advanced options (like FTIR spectroscopy, chromatography, machine learning, and AI) to catch new tricks.But here’s what stands out from the IIT-BHU study: carrot extract isn’t dangerous by itself. The problem isn’t the ingredient, but how it’s used to hide food fraud.Carrot extract is loaded with beta-carotene and antioxidants, and carrots have vitamin A precursors, so they’re fine to eat. But adding carrot extract to a mix of cheap fats doesn’t turn fake ghee into a healthy food. If the base is vegetable oil or hydrogenated fat, carrot extract is only there to make it look like real ghee. You aren’t getting the nutrition you expect.Real ghee has milk-fat components, fat-soluble vitamins, short-chain fatty acids (like butyrate), and a unique fatty-acid profile. Even though ghee must be eaten in moderation (it’s high in calories and saturated fat), it’s still a very different thing from an adulterated product.It gets worse when the substitute is vanaspati or hydrogenated vegetable fat. These can be loaded with industrial trans fats, which is bad news for heart health, inflammation, and metabolism. Hydrogenated oil is one of the most common adulterants because it’s cheap and mimics ghee’s texture.So, a “natural” fake ghee with carrot extract might look convincing, but it’s still nutritionally inferior. Because “natural” is not the same as “healthy.”Many people mistake color for quality. Real ghee changes color depending on cow feed, season, milk source, and method. Some genuine ghee is deep yellow, some pale gold, some almost white. Color alone doesn’t mean purity.The IIT-BHU study, in fact, exposes a bigger challenge for food safety officials. As cheats get smarter, regulators need high-tech testing — not just basic screening. New spectroscopic and AI-powered tools can pinpoint adulteration as low as 1–2%, beating old methods.As for buyers, it’s advisable to keep in mind that while carrot extract isn’t bad by itself, if it’s there to hide fraud, fake ghee is still fake, and not healthier than real dairy ghee. The real issue here is authenticity. People expect ghee to be genuine milk fat, not a cleverly disguised mix. Whether the disguise is artificial or natural, the nutritional and ethical concerns stay the same.