A researcher and food safety expert, Dr Nurah Oseni, on Tuesday urged regulatory bodies to ensure the regulation of all palm oil sold in Nigerian markets.
Oseni, also a lecturer at the Food Technology Department, Auchi Polytechnic, Edo, made the call in an interview with reporters in Lagos.
Oseni spoke on the sidelines of the Fourth Lagos State Food Safety Conference and Exhibition.
The event, with the theme “From Burden to Solutions – Safe Food Everywhere”, was organised by the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency in Ikeja.
“If bread and bottled water can be regulated, palm oil can also be regulated.
“Traders should register their products and subject them to proper testing before sale,” she said.
Oseni said that a significant proportion of palm oil sold in the markets was adulterated, posing serious health risks to consumers.
According to her, seven of every 10 palm oil samples in the markets are likely to be adulterated.
She emphasised that traceability would be critical in addressing the adulteration, warning consumers against buying unlabelled or untraceable palm oil.
“Consumers should not buy oil that has no label or cannot be traced to a producer. Without traceability, we cannot combat adulteration,” she said.
The lecturer said that while some simple tests could help consumers detect poor-quality palm oil, confirming adulteration would require scientific laboratory analysis.
She said that visual inspection remained a basic but useful tool for consumers.
“When you take palm oil home and you notice unusual colour separation or abnormal appearance, it may indicate degradation,” she said.
She said that degraded oil, although not always directly adulterated, was unsafe for consumption.
She also highlighted the “water test” as a simple method to check palm oil quality, saying that it would help to reveal oxidation levels.
“What the water test tells us is oxidation,” she said.
She, however, stressed that consumers alone could not tackle adulteration.
Oseni called on government agencies, including the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, to intensify surveillance and enforcement.
“We need government intervention because confirmation of adulteration requires laboratory testing, science and investment,” she said.
She called for sanctions against offenders to deter others from engaging in adulteration.
“Government must enforce regulations and sanction anyone selling unregistered or unsafe palm oil. That is the only way to curb this problem,” she said.
Oseni advised consumers to prioritise safety when purchasing food items and avoid products that appeared suspicious.
“If the colour looks uniform in a questionable way or the quality is doubtful, walk away. Your health is more important,” Oseni said.
She said that food safety required collective responsibility among regulators, producers and consumers.
