Lagos: A researcher and food safety expert, Dr. Nurah Oseni, on Tuesday urged regulatory bodies to ensure 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 the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, 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. She emphasized 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 noted that while some simple tests could help consumers to detect poor-quality palm oil, confirming adulteration would require scientific laboratory analysis. 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 highlighted ‘water test’ as a simple method to check palm oil quality, saying that it would help to reveal oxidation levels. However, Oseni stressed that consumers alone could not tackle adulteration and 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.
Oseni 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. She advised consumers to prioritize safety when purchasing food items and avoid products that appeared suspicious, emphasizing the importance of collective responsibility among regulators, producers and consumers.