Tirupati laddu row: TTD blacklists Tamil Nadu-based supplier of adulterated ghee, warns of criminal proceedings

The Executive Officer said “The supplier took advantage of this lack of quality check to supply bad quality of ghee.”

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Executive Officer J Shyamala Rao overseeing the sale of laddus at the counters. FIle | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Executive Officer J. Shyamala Rao categorically said on Friday (September 20, 2024) that the Tamil Nadu-based A.R. Dairy Food Private Limited, a key supplier of ghee to the temple, has been blacklisted after being found guilty of supplying highly adulterated ghee and asserted that criminal proceedings will follow if the company fails to provide a satisfactory explanation in response to the show cause notice issued.

Addressing a crowded press conference, which saw the attendance of several national media outlets, Mr. Rao laid out details of the adulteration. Among the five suppliers contracted to provide ghee, AR Dairy was the sole deceiver, with their product found to contain dangerously high levels of foreign fat.

“The purity levels were also highly dejecting,” Mr. Rao declared, revealing that the ‘S’ value of the ghee—a key indicator of quality—was a dismal 19.72, far below the required standard of 98.68 to 104.32. The findings confirmed the ghee was far from fit for use in Prasadams.

In an attempt to calm the growing fears over the sanctity of the sacred prasadams, Mr. Rao detailed the timeline leading to this debacle. The tender for the supply of ghee was issued on March 12, finalised on May 8, and supply orders followed on May 15.

“For the first time in TTD’s history, the temple administration was forced to send ghee samples to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat for testing after complaints of poor laddu quality poured in,” he said.

The results were damning: four out of ten tankers from AR Dairy were found to be highly adulterated, forcing the TTD to reject the shipments immediately.

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Mr. Rao further admitted that the absence of a sophisticated internal laboratory to test the adulteration had left the TTD vulnerable to such deceit and felt that no thought was attached by the previous board at the low supply price pegged at a meagre ₹320 per kilogram of ghee.

To avoid the repetition of such incidents in the future, TTD has decided to take drastic corrective measures. Plans are underway to set up an in-house sensory laboratory with the assistance of NDDB and also take the expertise of the experts of the Mysore-based Central Food Technology Institute (CFTRI) and get its staff properly trained.