Lagos warns residents over adulterated palm oil in markets
The Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) has raised the alarm over the growing presence of sophisticated adulterated palm oil in markets across the state.
The warning followed a technical presentation on Monday at the Lagos State Food Safety Conference and Exhibition by Dr Nurah Oseni, a senior lecturer in the Department of Food Technology, Auchi Polytechnic.
LASCOPA urged consumers to remain vigilant and report suspected cases through its official channels as the agency intensifies surveillance of markets across the state.
The agency’s general manager, Afolabi Solebo, reaffirmed its commitment to protecting residents from unsafe and substandard products. He urged consumers to report suspected adulterated palm oil and unscrupulous traders.
Solebo warned that suspected offenders would be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with relevant laws, stressing the need for residents to pay closer attention to the quality of palm oil they purchase.
In her presentation titled “Palm oil adulteration: Emerging risks, detection strategies and regulatory control,” Oseni said palm oil was highly vulnerable to adulteration because of its high trading volume, consumers’ preference for deep-red colour and price differences.
She identified the use of potentially carcinogenic Sudan and Azo dyes to enhance colour, blending with recovered or recycled oils, including spent cooking oil, and the use of multiple adulterants designed to evade basic quality checks as emerging risks.
Oseni advised consumers to use simple visual checks as an initial precaution, noting that authentic palm oil may separate into layers, with the lower layer appearing orange to reddish-yellow rather than uniformly deep red. However, she cautioned that visual inspection alone cannot confirm whether palm oil has been adulterated.
