President of the association, Mr Alphonsus Inyang, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday, June 30 2023 in Abuja.
Inyang advised government to install testing and grading equipment at the markets to enable the association test every oil brought in for sales. He also called for the issuance of certificates to the seller or the farmer that brought such oil.
“We need to grade the oil to know which is Technical Palm Oil (TPO), Special Palm Oil (SPO), Crude Palm Oil (CPO).
“This will put Nigeria on the front burner of who have done something in order to grade palm oil,’’ he said.
Iyang identified the measure as a way forward to curtail palm oil adulteration and nip the menace in the bud.
“In curtailing the menace of palm oil adulteration in the country, we are proposing to government to work with us, we have designed a model.
“Government should set up palm oil market and work with us, install testing and grading equipment at the markets for us to test every oil that is being brought to the market for sale.
“When we have palm oil market we will be able to know whether the oil is adulterated or not, ” he said.
The president said the association had already designed documents and template to work with government. He said while the association would provide logistics, it needed the collaboration of government through the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Inyang suggested that security agents should search rural markets, where adulteration takes place as well as oil depots where they mix them with things harmful to human health.
“So we have the template and we need the support and collaboration of the government. It is our industry but we cannot do it on our own it cost so much,” he said.