‘Don’t Process Palm Oil With Spent Motor Tyres’

The Chairman of Palm Oil
Producers Co-operatives (POPC), Nwaniri Okirigwe, has called on millers to stop using spent motor tyres in the cooking of palm fruits.
Okirigwe  who stated this in an interview  with our correspondent in Port Harcourt, Monday said the practice was unwholesome in the production of palm oil.
According to him, since the use of spent tyres has been  banned by the relevant authorities in the processing of animal skin, (ponmo), the organisation has no alternative but to sensitise its members on the danger inherent in the practice.
He disclosed that the use of old and discarded motor tyres  was capable of affecting the natural  outcome of red oil, hence the need to ask its members to desist from  the practice.
Okirigwe who was recently re-elected to head the cooperatives organization said the practice could not be unconnected with the poor quality of red oil currently finding  their way into the market.
He further called on members to adhere to best practices in the production of red oil in order to prevent  the incidence of adulterated palm oil in the sector.
On the allegation that some  producers were in the habit of adulterating products to enable  them make more gains, he said the union had  put machinery in motion to stem The Tide.
He attributed  the non increase  to the cost of palm oil despite the rise in food commodities to the bumper harvest recorded in the past few months.
“In the past few months, red oil price has not increased because members recorded good harvest and they  are expected  to maintain the tempo inorder to have the goodwill of consumers of the product”, he said.
He also called on members of the public to avail  themselves  of  consuming fresh cooked palm fruits, as snacks in between meals.