The three-day-long Safe Food Carnival 2024, held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, focused on several key areas to raise public awareness and highlight the role of entrepreneurship in the food safety sector.
The event also aimed to raise public awareness among people to ensure the safety of Geographical Indication (GI) products, promote Bangladeshi products globally, emphasize personal hygiene, provide training on waste management, and raise awareness about the health risks associated with reusing cooking oil.
The carnival organized by the Bangladesh Safe Food Authority started on Thursday and continued till Saturday. The event saw a large turnout of visitors throughout Saturday, with the crowd growing, especially in the afternoon.
On the carnival's final day, a pitha competition was held, featuring around 100 entrepreneurs presenting about 40 types of pitha. They showcased their unique creations, emphasizing both creativity and safety.
The closing ceremony was graced by Housing and Public Works Minister RAM Ubaidul Moktadir as the chief guest.
Additionally, the event included cultural performances, a cuisine exhibition, and a puppet dance show. Throughout Saturday, various stalls displayed signature products from different regions of Bangladesh.
Sonia Sobhan, owner of Saptapalli, said: "It was a great event. We did not expect to receive such a strong response. We primarily focus on special products from Rangpur, but many others like us have brought products from different districts. The response from buyers has been very positive as well."
Manipuri saree seller Asad said: “I am very happy to be here. Initially, we came just to exhibit, but then realized we could also directly sell to buyers.”
The 15-year-old Sinha, who came with her father, said: “I feel very good here. Most of the food is almost sold out. I wish I had known about this earlier. There needs to be more advertising.”
Visitor Sumon Rahman said: "I only found out about this carnival today (Friday), so I brought my family, but we arrived almost at the end."
On Thursday, the carnival kicked off with cultural events and stalls opening. The second day's activities on Friday started with a children's drawing competition. The day featured a live pizza exhibition by Domino's Pizza, an international cuisine exhibition, a magic show, a message on safe food by MP and actor Ferdous Ahmed, cultural performances, and seminars on the role of GI (Geographical Indication) products and organic food in managing safe food. These activities were run throughout the day.
This year's carnival featured stalls from 70 companies, including notable names like Akiz, Pran, Coca-Cola, Finley, Bengalmeat, Unilever, Nestlé, Domino's, Abul Khair, and Square Group.
Sweet shops participating were Bonful, Wellfood, Premium Sweets, Bikrampur Mistanno Bhandar, Banolata Sweets, Bhagyakul, Bread & Beyond, and Sumi's Hot Cakes.
Five-star hotels such as Holiday Inn, Hotel Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Pan Pacific, Dhaka Regency, and Hotel Amari were also present.
Traditional dishes showcased included Shalik from Cox's Bazar, Manda from Muktagacha, Kalai from Rajshahi, Dai from Bogra, and Mejban from Chittagong.
Restaurants like KFC, Pizza Hut, Harfi, Burger King, Sultan's Dine, and Kachchi Bhai participated as well. Small and medium enterprises had stalls at the event, which was open to everyone.
