There is a post running on since last couple of months making wild claim that Sabudana or Saboodana or Sago is non-vegetarian.
This is what is claimed:
“SABUDANA
VEG / NON-VEG ??
Answer in comments
MUST READ IT FIRST
PROCESS OF MAKING YOUR FAVORITE sabudana
Saboodana (साबूदाना )is popular food eaten during fasting and religious events … Well, read the attached story and then decide yourself!!
Is Saboodana A Non-Vegetarian Or Vegetarian Food ?
Think about it…………..
In Tamil Nadu, India,in Salem area on the road from Salem to Coimbatore there are many saboodana factories.
We start getting terribly bad smell when we were about 2 kms away from the factories.
Saboodana is made by root like sweet potato. Kerala has this root each weighing about 6kgs. Factory owners buy these roots in bulk during season, make it to pulp and put it in pits of about 40ft x 25ft.
Pits are in open ground and the pulp is allowed to rot for several months. Thousands of tons of roots rot in pits.
There are huge electricbulbs throughout the night where millions of insects fall in the pits.
While pulp is rotting, water is added everyday due to which 2″ long white color eel is automatically born
like pests are born automatically in gutter. The walls of pits are covered
by millions ofeels and factory owners with the help of machine crush the pulp with the eels which also become paste.
This action is repeated many times during 5-6 months.
The pulp is thus ready as roots and millions & millions of pests and insects crushed and pasted together. This paste is then passed through round mesh and made into small balls and then polished. This is saboodana.
Now I know why many people don’t eat Saboodana treating this asnon-vegetarian. If you find it appropriate and if you think after reading this one cannot relish Saboodana, pass on to those whom you want to save from this tasty food.
spread it to max u can…..”
Message circulating in emails and on social media.
The above message has been circulating since last couple of months and being widely shared instantly without verifying facts.
First things first..This is beyond ridiculous and utterly idiotic report. In the manner described, sabudana or sago can never be made, scientifically it will automatically get decomposed. IT IS SCIENTIFICALLY IMPOSSIBLE to make sabudana in manner described. No one on this planet can make it that way. Its total bullshit. One may have his/her personal or religious preference, but the original author of this nonsense writeup / rumour on sabudana reflects disgust and how ill-informed the person is about the manufacture process.
This is how it is made:
Saboodana is made from raw tapioca roots (commonly known as shakkarkand), an underground potato like variety. These tapioca roots (shakkarkand) are crushed in a tank and its milk/juice is extracted and stored for few days which changes its nature and turns into light paste… It is then poured into machine or hand sheets or big steel sheets with holes to produce white granules from the paste. Thus the white granules or small white balls are formed, which are dried and these dried granules/balls are called as saboodana.
The actual manufacturing process video – start to end:
Ofcourse, the video is dated. The manufacturing of saboodana, which has a very large market in India, has advanced technologically reducing human intervention by mechanising and increasing production.
Such false claim could be a prank on people who follow vegetarianism or a sinister design to disrupt the regional-geographical industry. All speculation it is though.
But what is certain is that such idiotic claims remain unverified and instantly shared.
[The blog originally appeared on May 1, 2014 at my old blog site here: http://ajayrdave.blogspot.com/2014/05/sabudana-or-sago-is-vegetarian.html]