The Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) has warned residents against sophisticated adulteration of palm oil, urging consumers to be vigilant when purchasing the widely consumed product.
The agency issued the warning on Monday following a technical presentation at the Lagos State Food Safety Conference and Exhibition 2026.
Dr Nurah Oseni, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Food Technology, Auchi Polytechnic, presented a paper titled “Palm Oil Adulteration: Emerging Risks, Detection Strategies and Regulatory Control.”
Oseni said palm oil was particularly vulnerable to adulteration because of its high trading volume, consumers’ association of deep-red colour with quality, price differences and informal market practices.
She identified the use of potentially carcinogenic Sudan and Azo dyes to alter the colour of palm oil as one of the emerging risks.
Other concerns, she said, included the blending of palm oil with recovered or recycled oils, including spent cooking oil, as well as the use of multiple adulterants designed to evade basic quality checks.
Oseni also raised concerns over digital and traceability fraud, including falsified product labels and batch records, stressing the need for stronger surveillance and improved detection methods across the supply chain.
She advised consumers to use simple visual checks as an initial precaution, noting that palm oil could separate into layers, with the lower layer typically appearing orange to red-yellowish rather than uniformly deep red.
However, she cautioned that visual inspection alone could not confirm whether palm oil had been adulterated.
The lecturer advocated a tiered detection system involving risk-based screening, rapid physicochemical and spectroscopic tests, and confirmatory laboratory analysis, supported by proper sampling and chain-of-custody procedures.
She also proposed a five-step Lagos surveillance framework — Risk Map, Sample, Screen, Confirm and Act — alongside an adulteration intelligence database and coordinated responsibilities among processors, traders, laboratories, regulators, researchers and consumers.
The General Manager/CEO of LASCOPA, Afolabi Solebo, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to protecting consumers from unsafe and substandard products.
Solebo urged Lagosians to remain vigilant and report suspected adulterated palm oil and unscrupulous traders through the agency’s official channels as market surveillance is intensified across the state.
