Thousands of people visit Tirupati Balaji temple every day. After which, while returning, devotees are given laddus as prasad. Now the matter of animal fat being present inside these laddus is coming to the fore. The controversy over the sanctity and purity of the temple's laddus is increasing. Andhra Pradesh's Telugu Desam Party made two claims within 2 days and the Naidu government made a new allegation saying that ghee with animal fat and fish oil was mixed in the prasad.
The temple board sent ghee samples to the lab on July 9
In fact, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu claimed on Wednesday that in the previous government, animal fat and fish oil were being used instead of ghee in the prasad available in Tirupati temple. In June this year, Jagan Mohan Reddy's party lost the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Naidu formed the NDA government. After which on July 9, the temple board sent ghee samples to the Gujarat-based livestock lab (NDDB CALF Ltd.) and the lab report came on July 16. In this, adulteration was found in the ghee of a firm. The food lab CALF of the National Dairy Development Board said that prasadam laddus are being prepared in ghee prepared from animal fat and fish oil.
Now the report came on 18 September
After which the temple trust held a meeting on 22 July and again on 23 July samples of ghee were taken and sent to the lab for testing. Its report came out on 18 September. After which CM Naidu said, the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy government has tampered with the faith of Hindus. The sanctity of the temple has been hurt and there has been a big tampering with the faith of the people. After my government came, this has been banned. The report that has come out now is of July.
Investigation revealed
Investigation has revealed that the ghee that was being used in these laddus contained fish oil, animal tallow and lard. Animal tallow means the fat present in the animal. Lard means the fat of animals. Fish oil has also been found in this ghee. According to the report, Prasadam Laddu contains soybean, sunflower, olive, rapeseed, flaxseed, wheat germ, corn germ, cotton germ, fish oil, coconut and palm kernel fat, palm oil and beef tallow, lard.
This company was supplying ghee for 50 years
For the last 50 years, Karnataka Cooperative Milk Federation (KMF) was supplying pure desi ghee to the temple committee. But in July 2023, the company refused to supply at a lower rate, after which the then Jagan Mohan Reddy government gave the responsibility of supplying ghee to 5 firms. After irregularities were found in the sample in July this year, the Naidu government became alert and on August 29 again handed over the supply work to KMF.
Brahmins make 3.5 lakh laddus
Tirupati temple is one of the most popular and richest religious places in the world. Every day about 70 thousand devotees visit Lord Venkateshwara Swamy here. Its administration is handled by Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD). 3.50 lakh laddus of pure desi ghee are made daily in the 300-year-old kitchen 'Potu' built in the temple premises. This is the main prasad of the temple, which is made by about 200 Brahmins. Laddoo contains pure gram flour, boondi, sugar, cashew nuts and ghee.
The government handed over the investigation of the case to the vigilance
The government said that the contract with the company from which the ghee was being procured has been terminated and preparations are on to blacklist it. The investigation of the case has been handed over to the vigilance. The concerned company had received the tender for supply a year ago. For now, the temple board has formed a four-member committee to monitor and ensure the quality of the ghee.
All this is used to make laddus
According to media reports, 400-500 kg of desi ghee, 750 kg of cashew nuts, 500 kg of raisins, 200 kg of cardamom and gram flour, sugar etc. are used to make the prasad laddus. The report claims that the desi ghee used in this recipe was adulterated with the fat of 3 animals.