Tirupati laddu row: TTD initiates legal action against ghee supplier
The executive officer of the temple board said an expert committee has been set up to put corrective measures in place to prevent the occurrence of such an incident again
The executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) J Syamala Rao said the temple board has initiated legal action against AR Dairy and has blacklisted the company for allegedly supplying adulterated ghee for the preparation of laddus.
Since the publication of the lab report that said fish oil, lard, and beef tallow was used in the ghee that was supplied to the Tirupati temple to prepare the laddu offering made to the deity, this is the first official response from the TTD.
The executive officer said an expert committee has been set up to put corrective measures in place to prevent the occurrence of such an incident again in the future.
‘Stopped taking delivery from AR Dairy’
“We have immediately stopped taking delivery of cow ghee from AR Dairy. We are taking steps to ensure the sanctity of the temple and the offering is maintained and the religious sentiments of Hindus are not hurt,” said Syamala Rao.
The officer said that out of the 10 tankers of ghee that were supplied by AR Dairy, 6 tankers were used. Samples from 4 tankers were sent to a government-run laboratory in Gujarat for testing.
AR Dairy was one among the five companies that were shortlisted by the previous Andhra Pradesh government to supply ghee to TTD.
Syamala Rao said that the S-value analysis carried out by the NDDB CALF lab in Anand, Gujarat on the ghee samples sent by TTD fell outside the standard limits, suggesting the presence of foreign fats such as soybean, sunflower, palm kernel fat, vegetable oil contamination, or lard and beef tallow.
The lab report was made public on Wednesday (September 18) by Andhra Pradesh minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy.
Our ghee passed quality tests: AR Dairy
In the meantime, food safety and standards officials at AR Dairy Food, Dindigul told The Federal on Friday (September 20) that its ghee had passed quality control and food safety tests conducted by the TTD and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
“We have certificates with us. We sent those NABL certificates along with the ghee containers. Samples taken from our supply were tested at TTD, and they also found no adulteration,” said a quality control officer from the company.
