FDA certifies palm oil as safe for consumption

Europa

December 22, 2015 4:40 PM

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in October 2015, warned against the consumption of palm oil sold on the market across the country.

The Food and Drugs Authority has indicated that 90 percent of palm oil on the market are safe for consumption.

This was after the Authority took samples from all markets in Accra for re-testing.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in October 2015, warned against the consumption of palm oil sold on the market across the country.

This was after it discovered that oil samples picked from ten markets in the Greater Accra Region contained highly dangerous textile dye which causes cancer.

The FDA in a statement said it randomly sampled 50 palm oil. The markets were: Mallam market, MallamAtta market, Dome market, Dansoman market, Agbogbloshie market, Kaneshie market, Tema community 1 market, Ashaiman market, Madina market and Makola No.2 market.

Several palm oil traders in Accra later voluntarily submitted samples of their products to the Food and Drugs Authority for testing, as part of efforts to rid the market of cancerous palm oil.

Addressing the media on the state of palm oil adulteration in Ghana, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Food and Safety Division of the FDA, John Odame-Darkwah assured the general public that several regulatory interventions undertaken by the FDA have yielded positive results.

"Monitoring of the local markets to rid it of adulterated palm oil was intensified. Monitoring activities included ambush and dawn swoops with the Narcotics Division of the CID. Several arrest of truckloads of palm oil suspected to be adulterated with Sudan dye that were being transported to markets in Accra were made. The palm oil on these trucks were analysedfor sudan dye and consignments of palm oil found to be adulterated were confiscated," Odame-Darkwah said.

He said the remaining 10 percent of the adulterated product was probably due to unintentional adulteration with the Sudan dyes as the drums used by the palm oil sellers are reused without washing.

Mr. Odame-Darkwah added that about 500 palm oil sellers at Agbogbloshie, Odorna, Madina and Makola markets have been registered and provided with tags.

The initiative, he said, was taken in collaboration with the Market Queens for palm oil and the Ghana Palm Oil producers Association.

Mr.Odame-Darkwah therefore encouraged consumers to patronize the palm oil from sellers who display these badges.

Meanwhile, the twenty two women whose consignments were confiscated are being processed by the Narcotics Division of the CID for prosecution in court.

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