The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is just around the corner, and compared with last year, this year’s Covid-19 situation is rather stable or normalised, and gives the people a chance to move about with far more freedom.
However, last week, allegations were levelled against Sri Lanka Customs that it had released a container of coconut oil to imports despite the quality tests suggesting that the oil contains a carcinogen known as aflatoxins.
This issue received further attention and raised fears among the general public, as coconut oil plays a major role when it comes to the New Year, which is celebrated next month, because most of the traditional food is cooked using coconut oil.
Coconut oil containing aflatoxins
This issue came to light after the All Ceylon Traditional Coconut Oil Producers’ Association (ACTCOPA) said that in January and February alone, Sri Lanka had imported close to 40,000 metric tons of coconut oil, and that quality tests had found that 13 oil containers contained coconut oil containing aflatoxins. ACTCOPA alleged that even though 13 containers were found to contain coconut oil containing aflatoxins, the oil containers in question had been released to the importers.
Certain media reports also stated that the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit, after checking oil samples, had concluded that they contained aflatoxins, which is a carcinogen. It was also reported that instructions had been issued to Sri Lanka Customs and companies that imported the oil to take steps to re-export the coconut oil in question.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) last week refuted allegations that senior officials of the SLSI had authorised the sale of unhealthy coconut oil (said to be containing aflatoxins) imported to Sri Lanka, and called these allegations ‘totally fabricated and false’.
SLSI Director General, Dr. Siddhika Senaratne in a statement added that the SLSI, as the standards body for quality to the nation, will not compromise the set standards for any commodity or material that will be detrimental to the lives and livelihoods of Sri Lankans.
“SLSI continuously conducts laboratory testing for aflatoxins in coconut oil imported into the country by all importers to ascertain that it conforms to the set standard of 10 micrograms/kg. Contrary to false social media reports, 13 containers of coconut oil have not been approved for sale by authorities, namely the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, Director General of SLSI and the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit. The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) is also carrying out a stringent watch on these imports.”
The four said importers, according to the SLSI statement, were Ali Brothers (Pvt) Ltd., Sena Mills Refineries, Edirisinghe Edible Oils and Katana Refineries, and the SLSI said that they were long-standing importers of oil and their samples are under test and the results will be released within a few days.
Based on the test results, SLSI together with the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit will provide the necessary instructions to Sri Lanka Customs for sale or re-export of the above imports.
Meanwhile, Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, Major General (Retd.) Vijitha Ravipriya said at a press briefing that two companies had imported approximately 183,055 kilograms of coconut oil recently, and that usually imported oil is not kept in Sri Lanka Customs because regulatory authorities take a few days to check the quality of imported goods.
“Also, the usual procedure is releasing the oil containers to be kept in the companies’ storage facilities. On 4 March, we were informed that the oil imported by two companies contained aflatoxins. On the same day, in writing, we instructed the two companies to re-export the said oil containers. The addresses of the two companies have been given to the CAA to conduct further inspections, and the oil containers would to be re-exported.”
Sri Lanka’s coconut oil industry
To look into the status quo, The Morning spoke to Chief Convener of the All Ceylon Traditional Coconut Oil Producers' Association (ACTCOPA), Buddhika De Silva, who said that local coconut oil producers are capable of meeting Sri Lanka’s annual coconut oil requirement, i.e. 180,000 metric tons, if the authorities provide the necessary assistance, including high-quality ingredients.
De Silva emphasised that local coconut oil producers possess the necessary equipment, skills, knowledge and also distribution facilities to achieve it. He added that due to multinational companies obtaining Sri Lanka’s high-quality coconut and exporting them for other productions, local producers are facing an issue when procuring high-quality coconut to manufacture coconut oil for the local market.
“Multinational companies are obtaining the coconut that is meant to be used for productions for the local consumers. These companies, after exporting Sri Lanka’s coconuts for their production, import oil to the country, and what Sri Lankans are getting is not high-quality coconut oil, but substitute oils. When importing oil, it is predominantly foreign companies that profit from it, and it does not contribute to the country’s economy. In fact, only 4-5 companies benefit from this. Sri Lanka should completely stop importing coconut oil – both refined and unrefined coconut oil. Instead, authorities should pay attention to importing ingredients at the prices prevailing in the world market, and provide these ingredients to local coconut oil producers at a concessional price. If the government takes steps to do that, local coconut oil producers would be able to deliver certified, high-quality coconut oil that does not include aflatoxins to consumers.”
Speaking of the quality of coconut oil imported to Sri Lanka, De Silva added that the oil containers said to be containing aflatoxins should be destroyed, as they can pose severe damages to people’s bodies if consumed.
He further stated that one of the reasons behind importing low-quality coconut oil, which he referred to as ‘substitute oil’, is the premium quality coconut oil being expensive.
“In the world market, a metric ton of premium quality coconut oil costs around $ 1790-1800. If imported at that price, a bottle of coconut oil in Sri Lanka would cost around Rs. 500-550. Therefore, instead of purchasing premium quality oil, importers tend to buy cheaper coconut oil for around $ 1200-1250 a metric ton. They take 60% of coconut oil, and add around 30% of other types of oil such as animal oil or used oil. They refine it and make artificial oil, which is cheaper. This is not coconut oil; this is substitute oil. In addition, they add around 10% of various ingredients to enhance the food odour. This process and the low-quality ingredients used in this process create aflatoxins.”
He further said that even though certain authorities have stated that aflatoxins can be removed/destroyed by refining oil, which involves heating oil up to around 200-250 degrees Celsius, doing so (heating) would deform the chemical composition of coconut oil.
Authorities’ response
Elaborating on the overall situation in this connection, State Minister of Co-operative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, told The Morning that following the said incident, steps have been taken to immediately introduce two main steps to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
“As one step, we have instructed Sri Lanka Customs to refrain from releasing food items (to owners/importers) under no circumstance until their quality test results are released. Also, we are planning to make it mandatory to perform quality tests on food items before sending them to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan authorities will also perform the usual quality checks; but this move can ensure the quality of food items and reduce the import of low-quality food items. These tests should be conducted by internationally recognised standards institutions, and if the results of local quality tests prove that the test results of those international institutions are not accurate, we will also take steps to blacklist them.”
Adding that similar issues have arisen with regard to certain other imported food items as well, the State Minister added that the usual procedure is Sri Lanka Customs taking and sending samples to the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) and the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit. He noted that this procedure also involves releasing the containers to their importers/owners on condition that they can only be sold after the test results are received confirming their quality. He added that the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has sealed the storage facilities belonging to the importers where the oil containers in question have been stored.
When queried about the status quo of the tests performed on the oil containers said to contain aflatoxins, the State Minister added: “The first test has already been completed, and the importers can request a second test. A second test was also commenced, and I believe that it should have also been completed by now. By Monday, we will be able to take a decision on whether to re-export the said oil containers.”
He also stated that he, as the subject Minister, has checked the operations of the Port and Sri Lanka Customs, as well as the above mentioned process. He added that in addition to the oil issue, he had identified certain other shortcomings as well.
“There are issues pertaining to a considerable number of import goods, and we are in the process of taking steps to address these issues as well,” the State Minister said, adding that discussions pertaining to such measures have been in progress for the past three months.
Speaking of the media reports that the CAA has commenced islandwide raids to collect coconut oil samples to ascertain whether coconut oil containing aflatoxins have been released to the market, he added that the CAA is taking coconut samples from stores in all 25 districts, in order to be certain that such oil stocks are not in the market. He stressed that the priority is protecting consumers, and that the authorities are trying to protect both businesses and consumers.
Even though The Morning tried to contact CAA Director (Consumer Affairs and Information), Asela Bandara, yesterday (28), to obtain more information about the process of collecting coconut samples, he was not reachable.
Aflatoxins
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the United States government’s main agency for cancer research, aflatoxins is a family of toxins produced by certain fungi that are found on agricultural crops such as maize, peanuts, cotton seed and tree nuts.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that aflatoxins pose a significant economic burden, causing an estimated 25% or more of the world’s food crops to be destroyed annually.
NCI added that people can be exposed to aflatoxins by eating contaminated plant products (such as peanuts) or by consuming meat or dairy products from animals that ate contaminated feed, and that exposure to aflatoxins is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer.
The WHO said that national estimates of dietary exposure to aflatoxins indicate differences between developed and developing countries. Adding that aflatoxins are potent carcinogens which might affect all organ systems, especially the liver and kidneys, the WHO noted that it may cause liver cancer and have been linked to other types of cancer – aflatoxin B1 (AFB) is known to be carcinogenic in humans; the potency of aflatoxin to cause liver cancer is significantly enhanced in the presence of infection and hepatitis B virus (HBV).
Also it added that aflatoxins are mutagenic in bacteria (affect the DNA), genotoxic, and have the potential to cause birth defects in children, and that children may become stunted, although these data have yet to be confirmed because other factors also contribute to growth faltering, such as low socioeconomic status, chronic diarrhoea, infectious diseases, and malnutrition.
Also, aflatoxins cause immunosuppression and therefore may decrease resistance to infectious agents (e.g. HIV, tuberculosis).
Furthermore, the WHO added: “Large doses of aflatoxins lead to acute poisoning (aflatoxicosis) that can be life threatening, usually through damage to the liver. Outbreaks of acute liver failure (jaundice, lethargy, nausea, death), identified as aflatoxicosis, have been observed in human populations since the 1960s. Most recently deaths attributed to aflatoxins were reported during the summer of 2016 in the United Republic of Tanzania. Adults are more tolerant to acute exposure than children. The consumption of food containing aflatoxins concentrations of 1 mg/kg or higher has been suspected to cause aflatoxicosis.”
It added that mouldy foods are potentially contaminated with aflatoxins and therefore are possibly harmful when consumed. The moulds do not just grow on the surface but penetrate deep into food. To reduce exposure to aflatoxins, the consumer is advised to carefully inspect food for evidence of mould and discard any that mouldy, discoloured and shrivelled.
“Try to ensure your diet is diverse; this not only helps to mitigate aflatoxins exposure, but also improves health and nutrition. Consumers who lack dietary diversity need to pay extra attention to minimise the risk of high exposure to aflatoxins. For example, extensive aflatoxin exposure has been reported from areas where people get a major part of their daily calorie intake from maize; this foodstuff is commonly contaminated with aflatoxins and needs to be handled properly both before and after harvest.”
According to some researchers, aflatoxins were first identified in 1961 in animal feed responsible for the deaths of 100,000 turkeys in the United Kingdom.
When contacted by The Morning, Director of the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP), Dr Janaki Vidanapathirana, said that the long-term exposure to aflatoxins can cause liver cancer.
She told The Morning that being exposed to aflatoxins has both short-term and long-term impacts, adding: “Short-term impacts include acute poisoning, if used in higher quantities. Also, chronic poisoning issues can also occur as a result of long-term use of aflatoxins (in this case, oil containing aflatoxins). However, in addition to aflatoxins, a number of other factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, hepatitis B infection and hepatitis C infection, also cause liver cancer. Aflatoxins has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a number one carcinogen (any substance that has the ability to cause cancer).”
When questioned as to the prevalence of aflatoxin-caused cancers in Sri Lanka, Vidanapathirana added that it is not practically possible to identify such causes.
When The Morning spoke to several members of the general public, they also expressed fear of buying coconut oil and at the same time said that for cooking purposes, they have to buy coconut oil regardless.
There is no data to know whether there is coconut oil containing aflatoxins in the local markets or to know whether locally-manufactured coconut oil also contains the said carcinogen. Also, there is no way for the general public to ascertain themselves how safe the other types of oil in the local market are.
In this context, ahead of the upcoming New Year season, taking the right actions without delay is the authorities’ responsibility.
Coconut oil containing aflatoxins
This issue came to light after the All Ceylon Traditional Coconut Oil Producers’ Association (ACTCOPA) said that in January and February alone, Sri Lanka had imported close to 40,000 metric tons of coconut oil, and that quality tests had found that 13 oil containers contained coconut oil containing aflatoxins. ACTCOPA alleged that even though 13 containers were found to contain coconut oil containing aflatoxins, the oil containers in question had been released to the importers.
Certain media reports also stated that the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit, after checking oil samples, had concluded that they contained aflatoxins, which is a carcinogen. It was also reported that instructions had been issued to Sri Lanka Customs and companies that imported the oil to take steps to re-export the coconut oil in question.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) last week refuted allegations that senior officials of the SLSI had authorised the sale of unhealthy coconut oil (said to be containing aflatoxins) imported to Sri Lanka, and called these allegations ‘totally fabricated and false’.
SLSI Director General, Dr. Siddhika Senaratne in a statement added that the SLSI, as the standards body for quality to the nation, will not compromise the set standards for any commodity or material that will be detrimental to the lives and livelihoods of Sri Lankans.
“SLSI continuously conducts laboratory testing for aflatoxins in coconut oil imported into the country by all importers to ascertain that it conforms to the set standard of 10 micrograms/kg. Contrary to false social media reports, 13 containers of coconut oil have not been approved for sale by authorities, namely the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, Director General of SLSI and the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit. The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) is also carrying out a stringent watch on these imports.”
The four said importers, according to the SLSI statement, were Ali Brothers (Pvt) Ltd., Sena Mills Refineries, Edirisinghe Edible Oils and Katana Refineries, and the SLSI said that they were long-standing importers of oil and their samples are under test and the results will be released within a few days.
Based on the test results, SLSI together with the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit will provide the necessary instructions to Sri Lanka Customs for sale or re-export of the above imports.
Meanwhile, Director General of Sri Lanka Customs, Major General (Retd.) Vijitha Ravipriya said at a press briefing that two companies had imported approximately 183,055 kilograms of coconut oil recently, and that usually imported oil is not kept in Sri Lanka Customs because regulatory authorities take a few days to check the quality of imported goods.
“Also, the usual procedure is releasing the oil containers to be kept in the companies’ storage facilities. On 4 March, we were informed that the oil imported by two companies contained aflatoxins. On the same day, in writing, we instructed the two companies to re-export the said oil containers. The addresses of the two companies have been given to the CAA to conduct further inspections, and the oil containers would to be re-exported.”
Sri Lanka’s coconut oil industry
To look into the status quo, The Morning spoke to Chief Convener of the All Ceylon Traditional Coconut Oil Producers' Association (ACTCOPA), Buddhika De Silva, who said that local coconut oil producers are capable of meeting Sri Lanka’s annual coconut oil requirement, i.e. 180,000 metric tons, if the authorities provide the necessary assistance, including high-quality ingredients.
De Silva emphasised that local coconut oil producers possess the necessary equipment, skills, knowledge and also distribution facilities to achieve it. He added that due to multinational companies obtaining Sri Lanka’s high-quality coconut and exporting them for other productions, local producers are facing an issue when procuring high-quality coconut to manufacture coconut oil for the local market.
“Multinational companies are obtaining the coconut that is meant to be used for productions for the local consumers. These companies, after exporting Sri Lanka’s coconuts for their production, import oil to the country, and what Sri Lankans are getting is not high-quality coconut oil, but substitute oils. When importing oil, it is predominantly foreign companies that profit from it, and it does not contribute to the country’s economy. In fact, only 4-5 companies benefit from this. Sri Lanka should completely stop importing coconut oil – both refined and unrefined coconut oil. Instead, authorities should pay attention to importing ingredients at the prices prevailing in the world market, and provide these ingredients to local coconut oil producers at a concessional price. If the government takes steps to do that, local coconut oil producers would be able to deliver certified, high-quality coconut oil that does not include aflatoxins to consumers.”
Speaking of the quality of coconut oil imported to Sri Lanka, De Silva added that the oil containers said to be containing aflatoxins should be destroyed, as they can pose severe damages to people’s bodies if consumed.
He further stated that one of the reasons behind importing low-quality coconut oil, which he referred to as ‘substitute oil’, is the premium quality coconut oil being expensive.
“In the world market, a metric ton of premium quality coconut oil costs around $ 1790-1800. If imported at that price, a bottle of coconut oil in Sri Lanka would cost around Rs. 500-550. Therefore, instead of purchasing premium quality oil, importers tend to buy cheaper coconut oil for around $ 1200-1250 a metric ton. They take 60% of coconut oil, and add around 30% of other types of oil such as animal oil or used oil. They refine it and make artificial oil, which is cheaper. This is not coconut oil; this is substitute oil. In addition, they add around 10% of various ingredients to enhance the food odour. This process and the low-quality ingredients used in this process create aflatoxins.”
He further said that even though certain authorities have stated that aflatoxins can be removed/destroyed by refining oil, which involves heating oil up to around 200-250 degrees Celsius, doing so (heating) would deform the chemical composition of coconut oil.
Authorities’ response
Elaborating on the overall situation in this connection, State Minister of Co-operative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection, Lasantha Alagiyawanna, told The Morning that following the said incident, steps have been taken to immediately introduce two main steps to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
“As one step, we have instructed Sri Lanka Customs to refrain from releasing food items (to owners/importers) under no circumstance until their quality test results are released. Also, we are planning to make it mandatory to perform quality tests on food items before sending them to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan authorities will also perform the usual quality checks; but this move can ensure the quality of food items and reduce the import of low-quality food items. These tests should be conducted by internationally recognised standards institutions, and if the results of local quality tests prove that the test results of those international institutions are not accurate, we will also take steps to blacklist them.”
Adding that similar issues have arisen with regard to certain other imported food items as well, the State Minister added that the usual procedure is Sri Lanka Customs taking and sending samples to the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) and the Health Ministry’s Food Safety unit. He noted that this procedure also involves releasing the containers to their importers/owners on condition that they can only be sold after the test results are received confirming their quality. He added that the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has sealed the storage facilities belonging to the importers where the oil containers in question have been stored.
When queried about the status quo of the tests performed on the oil containers said to contain aflatoxins, the State Minister added: “The first test has already been completed, and the importers can request a second test. A second test was also commenced, and I believe that it should have also been completed by now. By Monday, we will be able to take a decision on whether to re-export the said oil containers.”
He also stated that he, as the subject Minister, has checked the operations of the Port and Sri Lanka Customs, as well as the above mentioned process. He added that in addition to the oil issue, he had identified certain other shortcomings as well.
“There are issues pertaining to a considerable number of import goods, and we are in the process of taking steps to address these issues as well,” the State Minister said, adding that discussions pertaining to such measures have been in progress for the past three months.
Speaking of the media reports that the CAA has commenced islandwide raids to collect coconut oil samples to ascertain whether coconut oil containing aflatoxins have been released to the market, he added that the CAA is taking coconut samples from stores in all 25 districts, in order to be certain that such oil stocks are not in the market. He stressed that the priority is protecting consumers, and that the authorities are trying to protect both businesses and consumers.
Even though The Morning tried to contact CAA Director (Consumer Affairs and Information), Asela Bandara, yesterday (28), to obtain more information about the process of collecting coconut samples, he was not reachable.
Aflatoxins
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the United States government’s main agency for cancer research, aflatoxins is a family of toxins produced by certain fungi that are found on agricultural crops such as maize, peanuts, cotton seed and tree nuts.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that aflatoxins pose a significant economic burden, causing an estimated 25% or more of the world’s food crops to be destroyed annually.
NCI added that people can be exposed to aflatoxins by eating contaminated plant products (such as peanuts) or by consuming meat or dairy products from animals that ate contaminated feed, and that exposure to aflatoxins is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer.
The WHO said that national estimates of dietary exposure to aflatoxins indicate differences between developed and developing countries. Adding that aflatoxins are potent carcinogens which might affect all organ systems, especially the liver and kidneys, the WHO noted that it may cause liver cancer and have been linked to other types of cancer – aflatoxin B1 (AFB) is known to be carcinogenic in humans; the potency of aflatoxin to cause liver cancer is significantly enhanced in the presence of infection and hepatitis B virus (HBV).
Also it added that aflatoxins are mutagenic in bacteria (affect the DNA), genotoxic, and have the potential to cause birth defects in children, and that children may become stunted, although these data have yet to be confirmed because other factors also contribute to growth faltering, such as low socioeconomic status, chronic diarrhoea, infectious diseases, and malnutrition.
Also, aflatoxins cause immunosuppression and therefore may decrease resistance to infectious agents (e.g. HIV, tuberculosis).
Furthermore, the WHO added: “Large doses of aflatoxins lead to acute poisoning (aflatoxicosis) that can be life threatening, usually through damage to the liver. Outbreaks of acute liver failure (jaundice, lethargy, nausea, death), identified as aflatoxicosis, have been observed in human populations since the 1960s. Most recently deaths attributed to aflatoxins were reported during the summer of 2016 in the United Republic of Tanzania. Adults are more tolerant to acute exposure than children. The consumption of food containing aflatoxins concentrations of 1 mg/kg or higher has been suspected to cause aflatoxicosis.”
It added that mouldy foods are potentially contaminated with aflatoxins and therefore are possibly harmful when consumed. The moulds do not just grow on the surface but penetrate deep into food. To reduce exposure to aflatoxins, the consumer is advised to carefully inspect food for evidence of mould and discard any that mouldy, discoloured and shrivelled.
“Try to ensure your diet is diverse; this not only helps to mitigate aflatoxins exposure, but also improves health and nutrition. Consumers who lack dietary diversity need to pay extra attention to minimise the risk of high exposure to aflatoxins. For example, extensive aflatoxin exposure has been reported from areas where people get a major part of their daily calorie intake from maize; this foodstuff is commonly contaminated with aflatoxins and needs to be handled properly both before and after harvest.”
According to some researchers, aflatoxins were first identified in 1961 in animal feed responsible for the deaths of 100,000 turkeys in the United Kingdom.
When contacted by The Morning, Director of the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP), Dr Janaki Vidanapathirana, said that the long-term exposure to aflatoxins can cause liver cancer.
She told The Morning that being exposed to aflatoxins has both short-term and long-term impacts, adding: “Short-term impacts include acute poisoning, if used in higher quantities. Also, chronic poisoning issues can also occur as a result of long-term use of aflatoxins (in this case, oil containing aflatoxins). However, in addition to aflatoxins, a number of other factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, hepatitis B infection and hepatitis C infection, also cause liver cancer. Aflatoxins has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a number one carcinogen (any substance that has the ability to cause cancer).”
When questioned as to the prevalence of aflatoxin-caused cancers in Sri Lanka, Vidanapathirana added that it is not practically possible to identify such causes.
When The Morning spoke to several members of the general public, they also expressed fear of buying coconut oil and at the same time said that for cooking purposes, they have to buy coconut oil regardless.
There is no data to know whether there is coconut oil containing aflatoxins in the local markets or to know whether locally-manufactured coconut oil also contains the said carcinogen. Also, there is no way for the general public to ascertain themselves how safe the other types of oil in the local market are.
In this context, ahead of the upcoming New Year season, taking the right actions without delay is the authorities’ responsibility.