JAGATSINGHPUR: Priests of Maa Sarala temple on Friday alleged that state milk cooperative Omfed has supplied substandard ghee to the shrine for preparation of prasad.
In response, the food safety officer issued a notice to Omfed for supplying tins of ghee to the shrine sans proper label and symbol.
Sources said ‘manda pitha’, offered to Goddess Sarala during Dussehra, holds a special place among devotees. Hundreds of people throng the temple to partake the delicacy, which is known not only for its taste but also for its supposed ability to cure various ailments with the blessings of the Goddess.
Around 500 to 700 manda pithas are offered to the deity during the festival while approximately 250 are distributed among the sevayats free of cost. The sevayats then sell the cakes to devotees at prices ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 200.
The temple administration had bought around 20 tins of ghee from Omfed three to four days back. However, while preparing the cakes, the sevayats noticed a foul smell emanating from the kitchen and alleged the ghee was adulterated. They promptly replaced the contaminated ghee with fresh supplies. The sevayats then reported the issue to the temple administration, which in turn sought the intervention of the district administration on the issue.
Chief priest of Maa Sarala temple, Ranjan Panda said, “We noticed a foul smell emanating from the cakes while preparing them on Thursday. The temple administration buys ghee from Omfed’s local factory in Nuapada within Tirtol police limits. After receiving the complaint, we replaced the adulterated ghee and continued preparing the rice cakes with fresh supplies. We have requested the administration to conduct a probe into the matter.”
In-charge CEO of Sarala Temple Administration Pratap Kumar Jena said, “On noticing the foul smell emanating from the ghee, we immediately stopped using it. We have requested the food safety officer to investigate the matter.”
Food safety officer, Samita Das stated, “The department had conducted a raid and found that the ghee packets supplied to Maa Sarala temple lacked proper label and supplier information. A notice has been issued regarding the absence of the company’s label on the tins. Samples of ghee-one from a sealed packet and another from the adulterated batch-have been collected for testing. The samples will be sent to the Standard Testing Laboratory in Bhubaneswar for analysis.”