Dekko Foods Biscuits, Cookies and Pasta in Bangladesh

Dekko Foods makes packaged snacks and store-cupboard staples: cookies and plain biscuits, pasta, vermicelli and lachcha semai, and an orange drink powder.

The greater part of it sits under Snacks. The sections below group it by what each thing is and what it is usually bought for.

Cookies

• Dekko Black & Brown Cookies 88g — the most opened listing on the brand.
• Dekko Horlicks Cookies 250g and Dekko Chocomalt Cookies Biscuit 235g
• Dekko Milano Cookies Biscuits 124g and Dekko Hercules Cookies 175g
• Dekko Pick Star Cookies 175g

Six cookies under Cookies, from an 88g pack up to 250g.

Cookie or biscuit

In this range the cookies are the richer, softer, higher-fat ones and the plain biscuits are drier and lighter. That is the practical difference between the two shelves, and it shows in the nutrition panel more than in the taste.

Pack size follows the same logic: the cookies come in larger family packs, the plain biscuits in small single-serve sleeves.

Plain Biscuits

• Dekko Dry Cake Biscuit Family Pack 300g and Dekko Dry Cake Biscuit 23g
• Dekko Honey & Kalo Zeera Biscuit 88g and Dekko Honey & Kalo Zeera Biscuits 40g
• Dekko Sooper Dooper Biscuit Family Pack 122g and Dekko Sooper Honey Biscuit 40g
• Dekko Tej Milk Biscuits 65g

Seven under Plain Biscuits, several of them in both a small sleeve and a family pack.

Kalo zeera

Nigella seed, familiar in Bangladeshi cooking and used here for flavour rather than for anything it is traditionally claimed to do. A biscuit is a biscuit.

Small pack or family pack

The small sleeves suit a lunchbox or a single serving and the family packs are cheaper per gram. The trade-off is that an opened family pack goes soft within days in this climate.

Honey and Milk Biscuits for Children

Several of these are bought for children, so two things are worth saying plainly.

Honey is not for babies under one

Honey can carry spores that an infant gut cannot handle, and infant botulism is serious. That applies to honey in a baked product as well as to honey from a jar, so the honey biscuits here are not a first food.

After the first birthday it is fine.

Biscuits are a treat, not a feed

A milk or malt biscuit is still a sweet biscuit. Giving one in place of a meal fills a small stomach with sugar and fat and displaces the food a child actually needs, and frequent sweet snacking between meals is the main driver of tooth decay in young children.

Keep them to mealtimes or immediately after, rather than grazing through the day, and follow with water rather than a sweet drink.

Pasta

• Dekko Pasta Screw 200g

Under Noodles and Pasta, with Oyster and Bamboo shapes also sold in the range.

Shape changes how sauce clings and how long it cooks, not what it is. A screw or spiral holds a thicker sauce well, which is why it is the usual choice for a mixed dish rather than a soup.

Cook it in plenty of well-salted water, stir in the first minute so it does not stick, and taste rather than trusting the clock — a minute past the stated time is the difference between firm and soft.

Vermicelli and Lachcha Semai

• Dekko Vermicelli Semai 200g and Dekko Special Lascha Box 300g

Under Shemai & Suji within Cooking & Baking.

The two are not the same thing

Plain vermicelli is fine strands that are roasted or fried before cooking. Lachcha semai is already fried and layered into a flaky strand, so it needs very little cooking and turns to paste if it is boiled like the plain sort.

Both are Eid staples, and both scorch quickly. Roast plain vermicelli over low heat, stirring constantly, and add lachcha at the end rather than the beginning.

Fruit Funda Drink Powder

• Dekko Fruit Funda Orange Soft Drinks Powder 250g and Dekko Fruit Funda Orange 125g

Under Syrups & Powder Drinks.

A drink powder is not oral rehydration solution

This distinction matters more than anything else in this section. A flavoured sugar drink lacks the sodium and potassium that make ORS work, and a very sugary drink can make diarrhoea worse.

For fluid lost to diarrhoea or vomiting, use a proper ORS sachet mixed exactly as its packet says. That is a different product entirely.

Mix it to the stated strength

Made stronger it is simply more sugar. For children in particular, water is the everyday drink and sweet ones are better kept to occasions.

Allergens and Reading the Pack

Everything on this page is a wheat-based or milk-containing product unless the pack says otherwise, and that is worth knowing before buying for someone with a restriction.

Wheat and gluten

Biscuits, cookies, pasta and semai are all wheat products. None of them is suitable for anyone with coeliac disease or a wheat allergy, and there is no gluten-free option in this range.

Milk, egg and nuts

Milk and egg are common in cookies and in malt products. Where a factory also handles nuts, the pack carries a may-contain warning, and that warning is meaningful for anyone with a genuine nut allergy.

The ingredient list on the pack is the authority. Formulations change, and a product bought last year may not be identical to the one on the shelf now.

Reading the Nutrition Panel

Packaged snacks are bought on taste and price, and the panel on the back is the part almost nobody reads. Three numbers are worth a glance.

Per 100g, not per pack

A fair comparison means reading the per-100g column, because pack sizes here run from 23g to 300g. A small pack with a high per-100g figure is not a better choice, only a smaller one.

Sugar and fat in cookies

The cookies in this range carry more of both than the plain biscuits, which is what makes them richer. That is fine as an occasional snack and worth knowing if biscuits are a daily habit in the house.

Salt is in the biscuits too

Sweet baked goods contain more salt than people expect, and it adds up across a day of snacking. Anyone watching salt for blood pressure or kidney reasons should count biscuits alongside everything else.

Storage

Biscuits and cookies go soft rather than stale in humid weather, and that happens within days of opening a pack.

Keep them in an airtight container rather than the opened sleeve, away from heat and direct sunlight. Pasta and vermicelli keep well sealed and dry; a packet that has taken up moisture will smell musty and should be discarded.

Check the date on the pack. In this climate a large family pack left half-finished is the usual reason a biscuit tastes wrong rather than anything to do with the product.

Buying for Ramadan and Eid

The semai products here are bought almost entirely around Eid, and the timing changes what is worth buying.

Buy semai early

Vermicelli and lachcha sell out in the last days before Eid and prices move. Both keep well sealed and dry, so buying ahead costs nothing and avoids the scramble.

Family packs make sense for guests

A family pack opened for visitors is finished the same day, which is when the going-soft problem does not apply. For ordinary household use the small sleeves waste less.

Where Dekko Sits on Arogga

This page collects one brand. The shelves collect one food type across brands, which is the comparison worth making when the choice is between one family pack and another at the same weight.

Pack sizes and stock change, so the listing is the record, and several products here come in both a small sleeve and a family pack.

About Dekko Foods

Dekko Foods is the food business of the Dekko group, and the range Arogga carries is store-cupboard rather than fresh: biscuits and cookies, pasta, vermicelli and lachcha semai, and a drink powder.

Cookies and plain biscuits are the two deepest parts, with several lines offered in both a single-serve sleeve and a family pack. The semai products are seasonal staples rather than everyday ones.

It is searched as Dekko Foods rather than by the bare group name, and occasionally as deco or dekcalo.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the difference between the cookies and the plain biscuits?

The cookies are richer, softer and higher in fat; the plain biscuits are drier and lighter. It shows in the nutrition panel more than in the taste. The cookies also come in larger family packs and the plain biscuits in small single-serve sleeves.

2. Can I give honey biscuits to a baby?

Not under one year old. Honey can carry spores an infant gut cannot handle, and that applies to honey in a baked product as well as from a jar. After the first birthday it is fine.

3. Are milk biscuits a good snack for a young child?

As an occasional treat rather than a feed. A milk or malt biscuit is still a sweet biscuit, and giving one in place of a meal displaces the food a child needs. Frequent sweet snacking between meals is the main driver of tooth decay.

4. Is Fruit Funda the same as ORS?

No, and the difference matters. A flavoured sugar drink lacks the sodium and potassium that make oral rehydration solution work, and a very sugary drink can worsen diarrhoea. For fluid loss, use a proper ORS sachet mixed as its packet directs.

5. What is the difference between vermicelli and lachcha semai?

Plain vermicelli is fine strands that are roasted or fried before cooking. Lachcha is already fried and layered, so it needs very little cooking and turns to paste if boiled like the plain sort. Both scorch quickly.

6. Is anything in this range gluten-free?

No. Biscuits, cookies, pasta and semai are all wheat products, and there is no gluten-free option here. None is suitable for anyone with coeliac disease or a wheat allergy.

7. Which pack size is better value?

The family pack is cheaper per gram, but an opened one goes soft within days in this climate. Small sleeves suit a lunchbox or single serving. Compare price divided by weight, which the listing gives you.

8. How should biscuits be stored after opening?

In an airtight container rather than the opened sleeve, away from heat and sunlight. They go soft rather than stale in humid weather, usually within days, which is the commonest reason a biscuit tastes wrong.