Amid the raging row over adulteration in Tirupati laddoos, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has filed a police complaint against the Dindigul-based AR Dairy Foods. TTD requested the police to initiate criminal charges against the supplier for supply adulterated ghee tankers for the temple.
The complaint filed by TTD states that many pilgrims complained about the quality of Tirupati laddus and several issues were found in cow ghee procurement. The row over the laddoos came to the fore after reports suggested that adulterated ghee, containing beef tallow, fish oil and pig fat, was used in the preparation of the famous Tirupati prasad offered to devotees.
The issue of likely adulteration in the laddoos came to light after devotees complained of an unusual smell from the prasadam. Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan raised the matter, leading to widespread outrage among devotees.
TTD’s warning to suppliers
The trust mentioned that suppliers supplied poor quality ghee, which did not have any aroma and/or taste. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam alleged that the ghee was possibly adulterated, adding that it warned existing suppliers to improve the quality of ghee supplied.
TTD warned all the existing suppliers to improve the quality of ghee supplied, while adding sub-standard stocks will be tested in outside labs for adulteration. It also said that the firm will be blacklisted with the suitable penalties if the tests indicate adulteration, as per the complaint.
“Taking into consideration of the warning given by TTD, all the firms improved their quality of ghee except one supplier, i.e., M/s A R Dairy Foods Pvt Ltd, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu,” the complaint read. On March 12, TTD floated an e-tender for the supply of 10 lakh kgs of cow ghee within 1,500 kms of radius from Tirumala.
AR Dairy supplies cow ghee to Tirupati
The tender got finalised on May 8, following which a supply order was issued on May 15. “Prime facie, his price of Rs 319.80 appeared to be unviable and unreasonable for supplying pure ghee.”
After getting the supply order AR Dairy Foods supplied four tankers on June 12, 20, 25 and July 4 respectively which the TTD accepted with the earlier procedure of testing. This testing procedure, however, did not include testing the cow ghee supplies for adulteration.
After this, the TTD enlisted outside NABL-accredited labs for adulteration testing for enforcing quality controls as per the tender conditions. In order to substantiate its allegations of adulteration, the trust also attached the report sent by NDDB CALF Ltd in Gujarat.
As per this report, there was high level of adulteration in the ghee supplied. The ghee contained palm oil and tallow (95.90 to 104.10) as well as lard/animal fat (97.96 to 102.04) apart from soya bean, sunflower, olive, rapeseed, linseed, wheat grain, maize germ, cotton seed, fish oil (98.05 to 101.95) as well as coconut and palm kernel fat (99.42 to 100.58).
