The Lagos State Government has stepped up enforcement of measures to ensure food safety, hygiene, and compliance standards. The government, accordingly, restrained the distribution of edible oil with petroleum tankers.

The Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency, LASCOPA, and major stakeholders in the edible oil transportation, who include Marketers and Sellers of Edible Oil Association of Nigeria, MASEON; the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO; and the Association of Edible Oil Tanker Drivers of Nigeria under the National Union of Edible Oil Tanker Drivers of Nigeria, ETD/NUEOTDN, signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, on food safety and hygiene, which is extended to the restriction.

LASCOPA, in a statement on Friday, indicated that the restriction is to stop the use of tankers, previously deployed for petroleum and hazardous substances, in the transportation of edible oil.

LASCOPA argued that the such tankers may be contaminated and exposes consumers to serious health hazards by contamination from chemical residues left in fuel tankers.

According to the statement, “The key objectives of the agreement include ensuring that tankers designated for edible oil transportation are used exclusively for that purpose; preventing the use of edible oil tankers for petroleum products and hazardous substances.”

Apparently, tankers that are committed to conveying edible oil should be dedicated strictly for those purpose.