Kannan, a quality control officer at the Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Food Private Limited, has described the allegations against the company for supplying adulterated ghee to the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati as "unsubstantiated," adding that fish oil is "more expensive" than ghee.
His comment came a day after the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) initiated legal action against the company and blacklisted them. This comes as the aftermath of a report by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which claimed that traces of animal fats were found in the ghee supplied by the company for preparation of laddus.
Speaking to a Tamil news channel on Friday, Kannan said, “These allegations, ranging from vegetable oil to animal fat adulteration, are severely damaging to our business. Moreover, the claim that fish oil was added is absurd, as fish oil is more expensive than ghee. Any adulteration of this kind would immediately be detectable by smell alone.”
Kannan stated that the company is facing such accusations for the first time since it began operations in 1988, adding that the company contributes to a “very small volume” of the total ghee used for TTD’s laddu production.
“Our ghee samples are first tested in national laboratories and by TTD’s own food safety officer,” he said.
He also highlighted that the company holds ISO certification and follows strict quality protocols, as AR Dairy runs its own procurement centres and employs advanced technology to test up to 102 quality parameters of milk within 32 seconds if the milk fails the test, it is rejected.
TTD’s Officer J Shyamala Rao said at a press conference that samples of ghee supplied by A.R. Dairy had been sent for testing following complaints about the declining quality of laddus, a popular temple offering, or ‘prasadam’. Rao pointed out that out of 10 tankers of ghee provided by AR Dairy, four were found to be highly adulterated.
These remarks came days after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu alleged at an NDA legislative party meeting that the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government had allowed the use of animal fat and fish oil in the preparation of laddus.
