Amid a massive row over the alleged use of substandard ingredients and animal fat in the preparation of Tirupati laddus, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), producer of Nandini ghee, has clarified the status of its contract with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple.
This comes after a lab report confirmed that the laddus offered as Prasad to devotees at Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh contain animal fats and fish oil, resulting in a massive controversy all over the country.
In 2023, KMF reportedly opted out of a tender for supplying ghee to TTD. The KMF stated that they were selling ghee at Rs 400 per kilogram and couldn't match the lower prices offered by other companies to the TTD, according to a report by News18.
The federation, at that time, maintained that they were unwilling to compromise on quality and that reducing prices would result in loss to it and it has to serve the interest of farmers.
However, the KMF began supplying Nandini ghee to Tirupati within the past month following chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s directive to improve the quality of laddus.
“After the new government came to power, TTD members did a press meet raising questions on why ghee from other brands was purchased, keeping Nandini out of it. What’s the intent? They had written to us and we have again started providing ghee. We have become the lowest bidder for providing 3.5 lakh kg ghee. We have sent the first tanker a few days back,” Bheema Naik, chairman of the KMF, told News18.
Meanwhile, AR Dairy, a company that supplied ghee to Tirupati Lord Balaji temple, on September 20 said their product samples have been duly cleared by authorities certifying its quality.
The Dindigul based firm's spokespersons said that only during the months of June and July they had supplied ghee to the Tirumala Lord Venkateswaraswamy temple, according to a PTI report.
TDP spokesperson Anam Venkata Ramana Reddy in a press conference claimed that the adulteration has been confirmed by a Gujarat-based livestock laboratory, on the ghee samples provided by the TTD.
He displayed the purported lab report which apparently confirmed the presence of "beef tallow", "lard" and "fish oil" in the given ghee sample.
The sample receipt date was July 9, 2024 and the lab report was dated July 16.
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