Assessment of proximate and physicochemical properties of crude palm oil from south-west and South-south Nigeria

Crude palm oil is most worlds widely used oil, due to its nutritional and economic advantages. The proximate physicochemical properties of fifty samples from local mills in Southern Nigeria were analyzed determine their applicability as food industrial usage applying standard procedures. obtained results were: Moisture content (1.51 2.46%), ash (0.30 0.50%), crude lipids (68.82 to76.77%), protein (2.44 3.25), carbohydrate (17.34 22.02%), energy value (697.80 716.04 Kcal/g), melting point (31.11 34.03°C), refractive index (1.465 1.469), specific gravity (0.8980 0.9140 g/mL), while viscosity ranged 24.698 63.823 mPs. Others saponification (199.22 203.55 mg KOH/g), acid (1.526 2.190 ester (197.75 201.99 free fatty (0.719 1.090 peroxide (3.186 5.450 mEq/g) iodine (45.57 50.60 Wij’s). showed good applications except high moisture which was above 0.29% recommended may lead short shelf  life, therefore proper monitoring for effective operating procedures are required reduce contamination might have adverse health effects. Key words: Oil palm, application, health, economy effect.