Slick sellers make palm oil biz get oilier

She noted that ‘metu’ does not in any way increase the quantity or quality of oil but only adds colour to make it attractive after adulteration.

Another dealer, Mrs. Eberechi Eluke, said it takes a consumer with special knowledge to identify adulterated oil at first sight. She advised consumers to be careful whenever they buy palm oil.

“I hail from Ehamufu in Enugu State, where we are so passionate about the production of safe and genuine quality palm oil,” Dominic Uzu, a Kaduna-based palm oil trader, said.

“In that community, we process palm oil locally to ensure good quality. Locally processed palm oil is the safest and best,” he said.

“The dangerous trend of adulteration arose with the mass production of oil to meet increasing demands. For this reason, production is now mechanized, but this process produces lower quality,” he added, blaming the adulteration on retailers.

“The retailers buy in huge quantities from the mass producers in Imo and Abia states and mix it with some substance to make it look attractive, hence, maximize profit, but the price differs; if the adulterated quality sells at between N3,500 and N4, 000 per gallon, the genuine quality would sell at, say, N5, 000.00,” he said.

He said the solution to the problem remained with retailers. Akilu Ishaqa has been selling palm oil at the Wuse Market in Abuja for the past 12 years.

“I have never witnessed adulteration of palm oil with soap or flour, but I know that if it looks dark, some colouring substance is added to it to make it look red and attractive, and retailers come with this substance from where they receive bulk supplies,” he said. He said consumers have complained about this. “If the colouring substance is used too much, some customers complain of the offensive taste of the oil, they complain that it doesn’t taste original, but such complaints are few.”

Akilu, however, blamed customers for the adulteration. “The dark-looking palm oil is the original, pure quality. But most customers are attracted to the red palm oil, and unless it looks red, they don’t buy it, that is why the dealers colour it with some substance, but whoever knows pure-quality palm oil, whenever he sees the dark quality knows that it is the pure quality.

“Whenever a customer approaches you to buy oil and observes that your own is dark while your neighbour’s is red, he goes for that because it looks red, but when he comes back complaining about the taste, we tell him the truth-that the dark oil is the pure one while the red was mixed with a substance.

“The truth is that the coloured palm oil is never the pure quality one. The colouring substance is mixed with it just to make it attractive. This is what most customers and consumers don’t know, and their prices differ,” he revealed.