As part of the Food and Drugs Authority’s (FDA) routine market surveillance activities on food safety in 2021, about 30% of palm oils found on the Ghanaian Market have failed the Authority’s nationwide Zero Sudan IV dye test, an increase from 7.3% in 2018.
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In October last year, the Authority sampled palm oils from major markets across the country, including 10 major markets in Greater Accra, to test for the presence of Sudan IV dye, leading to several arrests.
Except for the Upper West Region, all the regions had one or more samples from their markets testing positive for the presence of Sudan IV dye, with Greater Accra recording the highest failure rate (60.8%).
Some markets like Dome and the Mallam Attah Market in the Greater Accra Region had 100% failure for their samples analysed.
The toxicity and illegal use of Sudan IV as food additives are strongly banned by the Food and Drugs Authority and other international bodies in the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius.
The FDA has initiated a rigorous public education campaign in major markets like Mallam Atta Market, Dome Market in Accra as well as other Satellite Markets across the country
As part of this campaign, more samples are continuously being sampled across the markets, and traders whose palm oil products fail the test will be made to face the full rigors of the law.
