Fake Palm Oil Factory in Ogun Triggers Fresh Safety Concerns

News in Brief:

— A suspected fake palm oil operation in Ogun State has raised fresh concerns after workers were reportedly found using industrial dyes, chemicals and low-grade oil to imitate genuine palm oil.

— The development comes shortly after Lagos food safety authorities warned that Sudan and Azo dyes, recycled oils and other adulterants are increasingly being used to manipulate palm oil.

A suspected fake palm oil operation in Ogun State has sparked fresh concerns over food safety in Nigeria. In a video posted on X, workers were allegedly mixing low-grade oil with industrial dyes and chemicals to produce the deep-red colour commonly associated with quality palm oil.

The footage has triggered outrage among Nigerians and renewed calls for stronger enforcement against food adulteration.

Deep-Red Colour May Not Mean Quality

The development is particularly concerning because food safety experts have warned that sme bad actors are exploiting consumers’ preference for deep-red palm oil by using artificial colourants.

At the 2026 Lagos State Food Safety Conference, Nurah Oseni, a senior lecturer at Auchi Polytechnic, warned that Sudan and Azo dyes were among the emerging adulterants being used to alter palm oil’s appearance.

She said some adulterators also blend palm oil with recovered or spent cooking oil and use multiple substances to make detection more difficult. Some of these dyes can cause serious health damage, reinforcing the need for proper laboratory testing rather than relying on appearance alone.

Lagos Steps Up Surveillance

The Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) has announced intensified market surveillance and urged consumers to report suspected adulterated products and unscrupulous traders.

Oseni advised consumers to treat visual inspection only as an initial precaution, noting that genuine palm oil can naturally vary in colour and may separate into layers. She recommended a stronger surveillance system involving risk-based sampling, rapid screening and laboratory confirmation.

Social media users in Nigeria are calling for the arrest and prosecution of those involved in producing and selling adulterated oil. The incident highlights a wider challenge facing Nigeria’s food safety system: protecting consumers from increasingly sophisticated adulteration while ensuring regulators have the resources and enforcement capacity to detect unsafe products before they reach household kitchens.