75% of coconut oil sold in market contain some form of contaminants: GMOA

About 75% of the coconut oil sold in the country contain various forms of contaminants other than coconut oil and buying coconut oil from the local markets is not safe for health, the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) said.

Addressing the media GMOA President Dr. Anurudda Padeniya requested people to extract homemade coconut oil other than lazily buying it from the market during this New year season.

"Now we have no validation of coconut oil which are being sold in the market. We are losing valuable coconut oil and instead of that, we are consuming contaminants which cause cancerous conditions," he said.

"We have several Acts for food security such as food Act, Consumer Affairs Act. Despite the enactment of various laws and Acts, they were not sufficient to prevent customers from buying non-toxic and correct foods," Dr. Padeniya said.

Therefore, the GMOA has requested the Government to implement standard for the safety of foods. 

Dr. Padeniya said a legal framework should be introduced to display a declaration of the food that contain details of their manufacturing process.

He said the decisions relate to food cannot be delegated to the Sri Lanka Standards Institution or any other body because the Food Act in Sri Lanka is very weak, and therefore, legislation needs to be enacted in such a manner that the health sector is fully empowered.

He also requested the Government to establish a separate court for consumers and food.

Finally, he requested that the Legislation should be enacted with no public servant shall maintain any link or relationship with the fraudulent vendors, trading institutions and companies as long as he/she is in office and after five years of his/her retirement. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)