In the wake of Tirupati laddu adulteration controversy, the Karnataka muzrai department has directed as many as 34,500 temples under its purview to use only ‘Nandini’ ghee in the preparation of prasadam (offerings made to god) and for ‘dasoha’ (community lunch) served at the temples.
‘Nandini’ is the brand name of the dairy products produced and marketed by Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) - the dairy cooperative in Karnataka, which procures one crore litres of milk every day from its network of 24 lakh farmers.
KMF, which has an array of products – from milk, curds, ghee, butter, ice cream, chocolates to sweets, was one of the bulk suppliers of ghee used in the preparation of the laddu prasadam by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board. However, on Friday, KMF clarified that the supply was stopped in 2023 over differences in pricing.
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“The previous TTD board had stopped buying ghee from KMF as they found lower bidders than us. But in August 2024, after the TDP government came to power, they wrote to us requesting us to resume the supply. We bagged the tender and got a work order to supply 350 metric tonnes of ghee this year,” said Bheema Naik, chairman of KMF.
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On August 29, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah flagged off a tanker carrying Nandini ghee from Bengaluru to Tirupati. Naik recalled that the TTD board had opted for another supplier while stopping KMF supplies, and when he pointed out that the TTD had settled for substandard ghee, the Board had demanded an apology from him.
“I consider it a blessing from Tirupati Thimmappa (Lord Balaji) and his will that our contract has been renewed, and we are supplying ghee for the preparation of the prasadam,” said Naik. As per KMF records, the Federation has supplied around 5,000 tonnes of ghee to TTD between 2013-2022. The supply was stalled for a year, before resuming it in 2024.
