M Faruque Hossain :
A section of unscrupulous traders are doing brisk business in the city by selling adulterated Iftar items since the beginning of Ramzan, causing serious health hazards to the consumers.
Some buyers alleged that most of the vendors are selling sub-standard and adulterated Iftar items under the very nose of the authority concerned.
These stale food items are ubiquitous, which can cause food poisoning, diarrhoea, and dysentery, a physician said.
“It is very difficult to get pure and safe Iftar items nowadays. But as we some people don’t have any option to prepare Iftar items, we are compelled to buy the items from the roadside vendors or restaurants,” Mohammad Hashem Ali, a buyer at Baily Road in the city on Saturday said.
The roadside vendors especially prepare and sell various kinds of Iftar items like jilapi, bundia, puffed rice, different kinds of sweetmeats, piaju, vegetables and potato chops, chola, beguni and others. To allure the buyers, the vendors are randomly adding artificial colours into the Iftar items. Besides, cooking utensils, pots, pans, trays, plates etc are hardly cleaned.
Moreover, the edible oils used for preparing Iftar are also adulterated and of low quality. Even burnt edible oils are reused for cooking Iftar items. When contacted, doctors said that adulterated and sub-standard Iftar items are being sold in the city rampantly.
Consumption of such food items may cause diseases and put people’s life in danger, they opined.
During visit to the city’s different areas, this reporter found the roadside vendors selling adulterated and sub-standard items to make extra profits.
Mohammad Abu Mia, who sells Iftar items regularly on the footpath at Mirpur Section-10, said that he usually earns Tk 1000 to Tk 1500 per day by selling the items.
“Most of the people love to have jilapi, piaju, potato chop, chola, beguni and others. I have been selling these items since five years. As I don’t have any permanent shop, I have to sell the items on the footpath,” he said.
A health officer of Dhaka South City Corporation said, “Proper implementation of law and more active involvement of the law enforcement agencies could be a good solution to end the sale of unhygienic roadside foods.”
A section of unscrupulous traders are doing brisk business in the city by selling adulterated Iftar items since the beginning of Ramzan, causing serious health hazards to the consumers.
Some buyers alleged that most of the vendors are selling sub-standard and adulterated Iftar items under the very nose of the authority concerned.
These stale food items are ubiquitous, which can cause food poisoning, diarrhoea, and dysentery, a physician said.
“It is very difficult to get pure and safe Iftar items nowadays. But as we some people don’t have any option to prepare Iftar items, we are compelled to buy the items from the roadside vendors or restaurants,” Mohammad Hashem Ali, a buyer at Baily Road in the city on Saturday said.
The roadside vendors especially prepare and sell various kinds of Iftar items like jilapi, bundia, puffed rice, different kinds of sweetmeats, piaju, vegetables and potato chops, chola, beguni and others. To allure the buyers, the vendors are randomly adding artificial colours into the Iftar items. Besides, cooking utensils, pots, pans, trays, plates etc are hardly cleaned.
Moreover, the edible oils used for preparing Iftar are also adulterated and of low quality. Even burnt edible oils are reused for cooking Iftar items. When contacted, doctors said that adulterated and sub-standard Iftar items are being sold in the city rampantly.
Consumption of such food items may cause diseases and put people’s life in danger, they opined.
During visit to the city’s different areas, this reporter found the roadside vendors selling adulterated and sub-standard items to make extra profits.
Mohammad Abu Mia, who sells Iftar items regularly on the footpath at Mirpur Section-10, said that he usually earns Tk 1000 to Tk 1500 per day by selling the items.
“Most of the people love to have jilapi, piaju, potato chop, chola, beguni and others. I have been selling these items since five years. As I don’t have any permanent shop, I have to sell the items on the footpath,” he said.
A health officer of Dhaka South City Corporation said, “Proper implementation of law and more active involvement of the law enforcement agencies could be a good solution to end the sale of unhygienic roadside foods.”
