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Impure coconut oil widespread in SL: Health Ministry

29 Mar 2021

The issue of adulterated oil being passed off as coconut oil is widespread in Sri Lanka, and it is undermining public health, according to a senior Ministry of Health official. Speaking to The Morning on Friday (26), Food Safety Unit of the Health Ministry Director Dr. Thilak Siriwardana said the coconut oil industry is at a stage where it needs rapid correction. “Some importers bring crude coconut oil containing aflatoxin, which is harmful to the human body. This is due to its low price. We need to put a stop to this. Aflatoxin is also contained in the coconut oil made in Sri Lanka using copra,” he added. According to Dr. Siriwardana, to maintain certain levels of processing efficiency and quality of products in both copra processing and oil milling, it is necessary that certain guidelines and good practices are followed as a matter of routine. “The traditional method of copra drying in Sri Lanka is a multi-stage process, and the initial stage is sun-drying, where the halves of the split nuts are arranged on a barbeque and exposed to the sun for a period of 8-10 hours, and this is followed by a series of hot air curing, with intermittent cooling.” However, at present, some companies cut the coconut kernel into small pieces ranging from about 0.4-0.8 cm, then feed it into a hot air dryer or oven at low temperature. Dr. Siriwardana explained that the present method is more suitable and consistent than the traditional one. “High levels of aflatoxin contamination in coconut oil may have resulted from improper practices during the copra production that facilitate toxigenic fungal growth on copra. Certain coconut oil products available in Sri Lanka may pose a health risk to consumers. So we should be aware of both imported and locally produced coconut oil,” he said. The fresh coconut kernel is a high oil-bearing material that also contains a high percentage of water. Thus, the kernel of mature, seasoned coconuts (once they are split open), contain about 43.3% water and 42.0% oil. The public may complain if there is an issue with the coconut oil they consume. “The nearest Public Health Inspector (PHI) or Medical Officer of Health (MOH) is always to help consumers,” Dr. Siriwardana further added. Meanwhile speaking to The Morning, Processing and Development division of Coconut Development Authority (CDA) Director P. Edirimanne said coconut oil has been liable to adulteration, either accidentally or intentionally, due to the loopholes in the Consumer Affairs Authority Act. “However, we have taken action to fill these gaps in order to stop illegal adulterating,” he noted. Edirimanne also said: “The CDA selected seven companies in Sri Lanka who produce coconut oil according to necessary health measures and guidelines. These companies are under one umbrella logo, and we guarantee and certify the quality of their products.” According to Edirimanne, the CDA plans to offer this five-star logo to another 50 companies in the future. In a related development, it was reported that following the detection of coconut oil that was said to contain aflatoxin, the authorities have started discussions to take several measures to ascertain the quality of imported food items. According to State Minister of Co-operative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna, instructions have been issued to Sri Lanka Customs to refrain from releasing food items to importers under any circumstances, until their quality test results are released. In addition, the State Minister also told The Morning that attention has been paid to the quality tests performed before importing food items to the country. He added that in the event these quality tests/certificates do not align with the results of locally conducted tests (following the arrival of the consignments), steps would be taken to blacklist the relevant companies.


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