The Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana has disputed the result of a survey suggesting that some producers soak millipedes in palm oil for sale.
The survey conducted by some students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in four major markets, revealed that some traders soak millipedes in palm oil to enhance its colour and taste.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3uKi5OWk2SgENiGUPNV1ICIRgUJpM7yE”]This comes barely few months after the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) said it was safe to consume palm oil, following similar reports that some producers had mixed oil with Sudan IV, a cancer-causing agent.
But the National Organizer of the Oil Palm Development Association of Ghana, Maxwell Commey Citi News intimated that the results of the survey are untrue.
He suggested that the survey may be attempts by some persons to undermine by oil palm industry.
“It is never true that there is millipede dumped in palm oil. I am strongly believing that it is an agenda of a group of people to undermine the industry and frustrate the oil palm industry,” he stated angrily.
Mr. Commey is of the view that the outcome of the survey defies logical reasoning.
“How many millipedes can somebody gather? Do we have a millipede farm that people can gather and put them in palm oil? You see, logically it doesn’t make sense,” he suggested.
He further pointed out that such negative reports will only hurt the poor farmers who depend on oil palm production as a source of livelihood.
“And at the end of the day, a poor farmer who is farming to bring out palm fruit, what has he got to do with millipede?”
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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana