Crude palm oil from the mesocarp of Elaeis guineensis Jacq fruits is one of the most consumed vegetable oil in the world. The quality of palm oil assessed mainly by its free fatty acids (FFA) content and impurities, varies between the artisanal and industrial extraction and supply systems. The objective of this paper is to highlight the main parameters that influence the acidity or FFA content of crude palm oil produced by the smallholder artisanal sector. Three parameters examined are: crude palm oil production and extraction methods, microbial activity and oil palm genotype. These three parameters strongly increase lipase activity and hence palm oil acidity. In addition to endogenous lipase in fruit mesocarp, microorganisms found in palm oil are also involved in lipase activity e.g. Aspergillus sp, Mucor sp, Penicillium and Candida for fungi; and bacteria such as Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Micrococcus, Staphylococcus and Enterobacter. To improve the quality of palm oil, smallholders must first seek oil palm progenies with low acidity oil and respect the standard cultural practices for palm oil production.

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This study was aimed at the assessment of the food quality parameters of crude palm oil (CPO) sold on the major markets of Yaounde city. Information on the origin of the crude palm oil sold therein was gathered from 56 wholesalers, that is eight per market. Twenty one (21) samples were gathered for the purpose of this survey, which is 3 per market depending on the main sources for the analysis of food quality parameters, namely acidity, peroxide value, water content and the potential hydrogen (pH). The results show that the CPO sold in Yaounde markets comes mainly from smallholders sector in Bassa communities and also from SAFACAM of Dizangue industrial sector. As regards food quality, the peroxide value, which was below the maximum level of 10 meq O2/kg, showed no significant difference between the various sources. The pH varies between 4.00 and 4.50 while water content and acidity vary from 0.10 to 1.13% and from 2.56 to 12.16% respectively. Based on these results, the food quality of the CPO samples assessed were of low food quality. CPO from the Dizangue plant proved to be of low quality despite its mechanised production system. These results further show that inappropriate ways of transportation and storage are the cause of the deterioration of the palm oil from the Dizangue plants.