Amid rumors of mixing animal fats in laddu prasad in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam shrine in Andhra Pradesh, a four-hour purification ritual was performed to appease Lord Venkateswara Swamy. Days after discovering that temple laddus contained foreign fats such as palm oil, fish oil, beef tallow, and lard (pig fat), the executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), J Shyamala Rao, reassured devotees that their worries about the laddus had been addressed. Following a purification ritual, the sanctity of the temple ‘prasadams’ has been fully restored.
On Monday, the Union Health Ministry sent a show cause notice to AR Dairy, which supplied ghee to the Tirupati temple. Sources told India Today TV that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued the notice.
AR Dairy, a well-known dairy company, faced investigation following a study conducted by NDDB CALF, a reputable private laboratory focusing on analyzing animal feed and dairy items. The analysis revealed that ghee samples utilized in the popular Tirupati laddus were found to contain external fats such as palm oil, fish oil, beef tallow, and lard (pig fat).
“The requirement of the temple is 10 tonnes of ghee per day. We have supplied not even 0.1 per cent of the requirement,” AR Dairy said in a statement.
Amid the row, TTD executive officer J Syamala Rao said the temple board had blacklisted AR Dairy Food Pvt Ltd and initiated legal proceedings against it for allegedly supplying adulterated ghee.
On September 19, Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu accused that the ghee used in preparing Tirupati laddu ‘prasadam’, offered at the temple, contained animal fat during the previous YSRCP government.
As per a laboratory report from Gujarat, the ghee samples provided by the TTD have been found to contain “beef tallow,” “lard,” and “Fish Oil.” In response to this, the Andhra government has established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the suspected use of animal fat in Tirupati laddus.
