In local meat markets, a vile game of deception has begun. What people think eating as fresh beef is not beef at all. This is actually carton-packed buffalo or some other meat. Meat in the box (carton) is taken out of cold storage or warehouse in the dark of night and sold in the morning with freshly slaughtered beef. Of great concern is the fact that buffalo meat is not mentioned in these cartons.
In this context, a section of dishonest meat traders continues to do the misdeed for greater profits. Evidence of the practice was found on a search conducted in the capital's Karwan Bazar, Kaptanbazar, Gabtali, Gulshan-1 and 2, from midnight Thursday (October 3rd, 2019) to Friday morning.
This reporter found that the main stronghold of this bad practice is the Karwan Bazar. This is where the packaged buffalo meat is being sold and supplied as beef. In most cases, packaged meats are provided in hotels, super shops, elite restaurants, tehari or biryani houses, and Chinese hotels.
Besides, some of the items are being directly sold to the general buyers. Wholesale packet buffalo meat worth only Tk 250/kg is being mixed with beef and is being sold for 500 to 550 taka per kg. Earlier, on February 26 of this year, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) seized around a thousand bags of rotten fish and meat stored and frozen at Karwan Bazar.
Workers involved in the process of mixing buffalo meat with beef in the market said they knew nothing about these packaged meats. They only follow the shop owners’ order. They said that these packaged meats are mostly supplied to different establishments or food stores. They could not say anything more.
However, on condition of anonymity, a meat shop worker in the market said, "We ourselves are doubtful whether buffalo meat is in this packet at all or not." “I feel bad to think what we are selling to people for eating. But we are bound to obey the order of the owner. We have no idea whether we are selling buffalo or horse meat,” he added
Talking to several meat vendors involved in the malpractice, it was learned that the wholesale rate of per kg of packaged frozen buffalo meat is Tk 250 to 300. However, the Karwan Bazar traders sell the packets of buffalo meat mixed with beef at Tk 550 to 570 per kg. These meats are being served to customers at star hotels to super shops, from elite restaurants to Chinese hotels.
Medicine Specialist and Professor of Dhaka Medical College Khan Abul Kalam Azad said, “Buffalo meat is 100% halal and full of nutrients. But the quality of these frozen buffalo meat that comes in the box or package from overseas must be confirmed for its purity first.” “It is a crime to market without monitoring whether these frozen meats have any harmful effects to the human body, whether it has harmful antibiotics and harmful chemicals” he added.
Eating these meats without qualitative testing can also be a serious threat to human health, Khan Abul Kalm Azad mentioned. In addition, the sale of frozen packet meat mixed with fresh beef is also a serious offense, he further said that in the developed countries there is a large quantity of sale and consumption of frozen buffalo and beef by maintaining proper quality. However, there is no compromise on food quality in those countries.
Karwan Bazar worker Akhtar Hossain said no cattle or buffalo is slaughtered here. Traders purchase meat from the market and supply it on demand. However, not only in the Karwan Bazaar or Gulshan-1 area, those packaged meat are also supplied as beef by various cheats in the capital. Since the prices are so low, the meat traders are taking advantage of the opportunity, he added.
Shamim Ahmed, general secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan Meat Merchants Association (DMMA), said, "I do not know about any such complaint." “It is not known if anyone has done so in a shop. Regarding the quality or tenure of this meat, the term written on the carton is relied upon. There is no separate standardized testing,” he added.
