AR Dairy, the company which supplied ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati temple, denied allegations of any ‘animal fat’ being present in their product, amid outrage surrounding the Tirupati laddu.
On Thursday, the Telugu Desam Party, cited a lab report, that detected the presence of “beef tallow”, “pig lard” and “fish oil” in the renowned Tirupati laddus offered to devotees at the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh.
One of the suppliers of ghee, AR Dairy Food Private Limited was accused of providing products of “substandard quality” to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the temple and production of the laddus, reported news agency PTI.
The Tamil Nadu-based dairy company was started in 1995 and is managed by three directors – Rajasekaran R, Suria Prabha R and Srinivasan SR, according to their company website.
The company which is based in Dindigul, told PTI that it had only supplied milk to the TTD in the months of June and July. They added that any time milk was sent to the to the temple body, accredited lab reports were also provided.
“There is no possibility of the presence of animal fat in the ghee,” the director of the company Rajasekaran R, told News18.
He added, “ We are using only cow milk for our ghee. Each and every batch is tested and we have laboratory reports. The ghee we produce is dispatched only after proper testing.”
Another official told News18 that the Gujarat laboratory which produced the report had not revealed their name. Their report also needed to be analysed, stated the official.
Several suppliers of milk, including Amul, have denied allegations of any impurities in the milk.
Union food minister Prahlad Joshi has called for a probe into the matter as the issue caused a political row after Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu blamed the former YSRCP government and claimed that they started the practice of animal fat being used in the Tirupati laddu.
Union health minister JP Nadda has also asked the chief minister for a report on the issue.
