Chennai: Amid the controversy over the Sri Venkateswara Temple prasadam, the company responsible for the supply of ghee, has rejected allegations and called it “absurd”. The company, AR Dairy Food Private Limited, is responsible for supplying ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams for the prasadam.
It has been accused of using fish oil to prepare ghee. Rejecting the charges after TTD initiated actions against it, the company said that the charges were absurd as fish oil was more costly as compared to ghee. It said that any adulteration of this kind would be detected by smell.
‘Company’s ghee is approved by TTD’
Speaking to ‘The Indian Express’ Kanan, a quality control officer of the company said that allegations related to the use of vegetable oil for animal fat adulteration, are damaging to the firm’s business. Maintaining that the company’s ghee was approved by TTD, he added that the company’s samples are first tested in national laboratories, after which they are dispatched to TTD, which checks the samples again.
Meanwhile, addressing an event in Varanasi on Saturday, Former President Ram Nath Kovind said that “adulteration” in Tirupati laddus is “highly unsanctified”. Calling such acts a “ sin”. Kovind expressed concerns that similar things might be happening in other temples and pilgrims’ sites. “I am not going into its political angle, but I think the faith that people have in their minds for the prasadam, a lot of doubt arises,” news agency PTI quoted the former president as saying.
Kovind expresses concerns
Kovind, who was in Varanasi since Friday evening, said while he did get the chance to visit for the darshan of Baba Vishwanath, some of his colleagues went there and brought Prasad for him. The former President said that while taking the prasad he thought of Tirumala prasadam. “And I am not the only one, probably all of you too. There is so much faith in the Prasad of Baba Vishwanath. I do not want to go into that, but I am saying that this could be the story of every temple, could be the story of every pilgrimage place,” he further said.
Recently, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu sparked a controversy by claiming that poor ingredients and animal fat were used in Tirupati laddus when YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government was in power earlier in the state.
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