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Palm oil dealers submit their products for testing

At the meeting with the Madina market dealers, Head of Food Safety Management Department at the FDA, Maria Aba Lovelace-Johnson said dealers who refuse to bring all the products for testing will be prosecuted.

 

Palm oil traders in Accra have 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.

The exercise was undertaken at the Madina, Ashaiman and Tema market during an emergency meeting with the FDA  on Friday.

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), last week, confiscated large quantities of palm oil from some selected markets, after the product were said to have been adulterated with Sudan IV, an industrial dye used in the colouration of plastics and other synthetic products.

"We acknowledge the fact that many of you here are victims of circumstances, but one's health is also very important. So we will encourage you to work towards eradicating the cancerous product from the system," she added.

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She said the exercise will continue for the next two weeks at various listed markets to ensure that the cancerous palm oil is eradicated from the system.

Meanwhile, Organizing Secretary of the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana, Maxwell Commey Nii said the blame should not be put entirely on the dealers of the product.

He said several of the traders are being forced to add the industrial dye to their products due to customers' demand for a 'reddish' palm oil.

He, however, added that there will soon be a registration exercise for all palm oil dealers to ensure that only the licensed ones are allowed to operate.

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