The clinicopathologic significance of enriching grated cassava mash with red palm oil in the production of gari.

The neglect of traditional processing methods in the production of gari (toasted cassava granules) has been blamed for reported cases of poisoning following consumption of gari. This study investigated the nutritional and clinicopathologic effects of not enriching cassava mash with red palm oil (RPO) during gari production. Two gari samples were produced with and without RPO. Total cyanogen, acetone cyanohydrin, free cyanogen, and crude protein contents were not found to be significantly (p > 0.05) different between the two. The samples were fed exclusively to two different groups of Sprague-Dawley rats for a ten week experimental period during which clinical observations were recorded daily. At the end, vital body organs were examined grossly and microscopically. There was a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in severity and percentage of animals exhibiting clinical abnormalities and lesions of chronic cyanide poisoning in the group fed gari produced with RPO. This result implies an association between the enrichment of cassava mash with RPO during gari production and the reduction of severity and percentage of animals affected by chronic cyanide poisoning.