Testing of coconut oil commenced only after 2020: Lanza

By Sandun A Jayasekera

Testing of  imported coconut oil commenced only after the election of our government in 2020, State Minister of Rural Roads and Other Infrastructure Nimal Lanza said yesterday. 

 
“When the tests revealed that coconut oil imported by three companies contained carcinogenic substance, the government took immediate steps to seal the consignment of coconut oil and prevented it being released to the domestic market,” he added.   

 State Minister Nimal Lanza expressed these views while participating in the opening ceremony of the Magul Pokuna Church Road in the Wattala electorate.   

“There is a heated argument these days on the contamination of coconut oil in the society. Coconut oil imported to Sri Lanka was tested for carcinogenic substance Aflatoxin and the importation of coconut oil in bulk started from the year 2020. After Gotabhaya Rajapaksa became President, he initiated to investigate into this matter. We cannot say for sure that the contaminated coconut oil was not imported before 2020 as there was no system to test the oil then. If contaminated coconut oil had been released to the domestic market before 2020, people would have already consumed,” Minister Lanza pointed out.   

“The Government has now been blamed for investigating and preventing the imported coconut oil from entering the local market. The Government has ordered to re-export the carcinogenic coconut oil. If there is anyone who has violated this order, we will enforce the law strictly on them. However, carcinogenic coconut oil has not yet been found in the local market,” he said.   

Commenting on the Easter Sunday carnage, Minister Lanza said the Easter Sunday was a day celebrated by Catholics around the world. “However, after the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019, we could not celebrate the Easter festival as we have been commemorating those who had died in the Easter attacks, in isolation,” the State minister said.