The Lagos State Government has issued a red alert over what it described as rising presence of sophisticated adulterated palm oil in markets across the state.
The warning was issued by the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency, LASCOPA, following a technical presentation at the Lagos State Food Safety Conference and Exhibition 2026.
The presentation, titled Palm Oil Adulteration: Emerging Risks, Detection Strategies and Regulatory Control, was delivered by Dr. Nurah Oseni, Senior Lecturer, Department of Food Technology, Auchi Polytechnic.
Oseni said palm oil is highly vulnerable to adulteration due to its high trading volume, consumers preference for deep-red colour as a sign of quality, price differentials, informal market practices and difficulty in detecting modern adulterants.
She listed emerging risks to include the use of potentially carcinogenic Sudan and Azo dyes to enhance colour, blending with recovered or recycled oils including spent cooking oil, and multi-adulterant mixtures designed to evade basic quality checks. She also flagged digital and traceability fraud, including falsification of product labels and batch records.
She urged consumers to use simple visual checks as a first precaution, noting that authentic palm oil may separate into layers with the lower layer appearing orange to red-yellowish rather than uniformly deep red, but cautioned that visual inspection alone cannot confirm adulteration. She recommended tiered detection involving rapid physicochemical tests and confirmatory lab analysis.
LASCOPA General Manager Afolabi Solebo reaffirmed the agency commitment to protecting consumers and urged residents to shine their eyes and report suspected cases through official channels. He said surveillance in markets has been intensified and that anyone caught will be arrested and prosecuted under relevant laws.
