Centre issues notice to ghee supplier to Tirupati temple

The Union Health Ministry has issued a show-cause notice to AR Dairy Food Private Ltd, one of the companies which supplied ghee to the Tirupati temple to prepare laddus.

The notice sent by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the government's food regulatory authority, said the samples of the ghee manufactured by AR Diary had failed to meet the parameters.

“Further, as per the information, the ghee procurement committee of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has sent all the samples supplied for testing to NDDB CALF Lab at Anand, Gujarat. After analysis, the sample from your firm AR Dairy Food Private Ltd has failed to meet the parameters and your firm has been blacklisted by the Executive Officer, TTD,” FSSAI said in a notice.

“By virtue of the above non-conformance of the product "ghee" manufactured by your firm which is not meeting the standards, you have contravened the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, rules and regulations made thereunder,” the notice read.

FSSAI has asked the firm to explain why its licence should not be suspended.

The report by NDDB CALF, a private laboratory, found that the ghee samples used in the Tirupati laddus contained animal fats.

Meanwhile, AR Dairy has denied the allegations of adulteration and is challenging the laboratory findings.

“The requirement of the temple is 10 tonnes of ghee per day. We have supplied not even 0.1 per cent of the requirement," AR Dairy said in a statement.