Effect of storage on the quality of processed palm oil collected from local milling points within Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

The influence of storage practices on physicochemical and microbial changes in crude palm oil (CPO) from milling points in Ile-Ife, Nigeria were investigated. Freshly milled CPO samples were collected from four traditional milling points, dispensed in 150 mL portions in sterile bottles and stored under two different conditions (sunlight reflection and in the dark, both at room temperature) for 4 months. Samples were obtained periodically during the storage period for microbiological and physicochemical analysis following established methods. The aerobic mesophilic (2.16 × 10 6 cfu/mL) and Enteric bacterial (1.6 × 10 6 cfu/mL) counts of the fresh CPO samples decreased during storage with those exposed to sunlight reflections having very high significant difference ( P