Syed Shemul Parvez :
Unscrupulous traders have resorted to making fake semai ahead of Eid. At present there are noticed a lot of factory for making semai in the Kamrangirchar area. In the hope of making more profit, they enter into this part-time business. Since it is a couple of months of work, there is no special focus on cleanliness and quality.
.The work of making semai pulp and giving it to the machine is going on with dirty hand in the chapra house. Whatever falls on the ground, and is taken out of the machine and allowed to dry in an unclean damp room.
When asked about the owner of the semai factory, one factory worker said, “Where is the owner? How can I tell?” The owners come on time. This is Sohan Semai factory.
The same situation exist in the factory of next door. There is no time to think about cleanliness and quality to meet the increased demand of Eid. So sweat and sand are mixed with semai.
The situation outside Dhaka is more miserable. Various types of semai including lachcha are being made in Nilphamari in dirty and unclean environment. According to sources, most of the factories do not have any approval. It is fried in low quality dalda and palm oil. Then it enters the shiny packet and reaches the consumer.
The factory worker said palm well is used here to produce semai. However, palm oil is generally being of low quality.
Meanwhile, doctors say these unhealthy semai, made in a degraded, unhygienic environment, increase the risk of complex diseases. NIDCH Medicine and Chest Specialist Assistant Professor. Ziaul Karim said that most of the factory producing semai in a very dirty environment, with sweating using burnt oil. For those reasons, we are going to be at risk. Now we are getting a lot of cancer patients. But 10 years ago, so many cancer patients could not be found.
The Food Safety Authority (Nirapod Khado) claims that the capacity to control is far less than that of irregularities. Manzur Morshed Ahmed, a member of the Safe Food Authority (Public Health and Nutrition), said, “We need to do a lot of work in a country like Bangladesh to ensure safe food and it will take some time.” At the same time we have to come forward to provide safe food to the people.
Every time Eid, this cycle of making fake semai became really active. Consumers want a more active role of law enforcement under their control.
