Amid controversy over the alleged presence of animal fat in the famous 'prasadam', reports have emerged that the ghee for the laddus was supplied by Dairy giant Amul.
While it was the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) which supplied the Nandini ghee for the 'prasadam' for over five decades, the contract was terminated in 2023 after Nandini took over. Since then, the ghee has been supplied by a different dairy group.
A Gujarat-based lab's report said the ghee samples sent to it by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) had the presence of "beef tallow", 'lard' and 'Fish Oil' following which the TTD stopped (receiving) the supplies and blacklisted the contractor. The TTD has since reverted to Nandini ghee.
However, rumours started doing rounds that it was Amul, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which supplied the ghee. However, Amul soon shot down the speculations, stating that it never supplied ghee to the temple.
"We wish to inform you that we have never supplied Amul Ghee to TTD," the company said, adding that their ghee is made from high-quality pure milk fat at our state-of-the-art production facilities which are ISO certified. Amul added that the milk used for their products undergoes stringent quality checks, including tests for adulteration as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines.
Meanwhile, TTD executive officer J Shyamala Rao, while confirming that the lab tests had revealed the presence of animal fat, said the suppliers took advantage of a lack of an in-house testing facility. "Now the reason for the lack of quality is not having an in-house lab, sending the samples to outside labs for testing and unviable rates," he said.
Rao said the supplier provided ghee between Rs 320 and Rs 411 and this price was unviable for supplying pure cow ghee. "Even after warning, four ghee tankers sent by AR Foods were prima facie found to be of substandard quality. The S-value analysis carried out on the sample sent to the reputed NDDB CALF, Anand (lab), fell outside the standard limits, suggesting the presence of foreign fats such as soya bean, sunflower, palm kernel fat or even lard and beef tallow," said Rao.
However, Dindigul-based AR Foods have denied the allegations, stating that they have been consistently supplying ghee to the temple from June to July. "With over 25 years of experience in ghee production, we have never received any complaints or quality issues to date," the officials said.