The Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) has raised the alarm over the increasing presence of sophisticated adulterated palm oil in markets across the state, warning residents to be vigilant when purchasing the product.

The agency issued the warning on Monday following a technical presentation at the Lagos State Food Safety Conference and Exhibition, where emerging methods of palm oil adulteration and their potential health implications were highlighted.

Speaking on the development, the General Manager of LASCOPA, Afolabi Solebo, urged Lagos residents to report suspected cases of adulterated palm oil and unscrupulous traders to the agency through its official channels.

Solebo said the agency had intensified surveillance across markets in the state to protect consumers from unsafe and substandard products.

He warned that traders found dealing in adulterated palm oil would be arrested and prosecuted in accordance with relevant laws.

In her presentation titled, ‘Palm Oil Adulteration: Emerging Risks, Detection Strategies and Regulatory Control,’ a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Technology, Auchi Polytechnic, Dr Nurah Oseni, said palm oil was vulnerable to adulteration because of its high trading volume, consumers’ preference for deep-red colour and price differences.

Oseni identified the use of potentially carcinogenic Sudan and Azo dyes to enhance the colour of palm oil among emerging adulteration practices.

She also identified the blending of palm oil with recovered or recycled oils, including spent cooking oil, as another growing concern.

According to her, some adulterators now use combinations of different substances designed to evade basic quality checks, making detection increasingly difficult.

Oseni advised consumers to carry out simple visual checks as an initial precaution when buying palm oil, noting that genuine palm oil could separate into layers, with the lower layer appearing orange to red-yellowish rather than uniformly deep red.

She, however, cautioned that visual inspection alone could not conclusively establish whether palm oil had been adulterated.

LASCOPA consequently urged residents to exercise caution when purchasing palm oil and promptly report suspicious products or traders to the agency as market surveillance continues across Lagos State.