Quality of prasadam, food under scanner at Durga, other temples in AP

Vijayawada: With a huge turnout of devotees for darshan at the Durga temple and other shrines to mark Dasara festival, the food safety department is keeping a close vigil to ensure quality to the ‘prasadams’ and other food that are on offer.

Special teams are inspecting the materials being used for cooking the prasadams etc, like flour, cashew nut, kismis, edible oil, ghee, dry fruits from the stage of arrival till their storage and usage in the temples. They are also checking the quality of rice, vegetables and other essentials used for the Anna Daanam.

Officials claimed that a close watch was also being maintained on quality of water, milk, buttermilk, pulihora, chakra pongal and other varieties of food being offered especially by the voluntary agencies and NGOs, to ensure that only quality food is served to the devotees.

Recently, the officials noticed the supply of 350 packets of cashew nut of sub-standard quality at the Durga temple. They seized the stocks and ordered an inquiry as to how this happened.

Already, AP has introduced a ‘Blissful Hygienic Offering to God’ certification by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to ensure supply of quality prasadam in 11 select temples in the state, in the first phase; and this will be extended to other temples in phase-II.

The NTR district collector Dilli Rao advised the food safety department to keep check on supply of quality prasadam and food items to the devotees including VIPs visiting the Durga and other temples.

NTR district assistant food safety controller Poornachandra Rao said, “We are checking the food items at the Durga temple and 11 other major temples in the state to ensure no devotee suffers any health issue in relation to use of prasadam and food especially during the Dasara festivities.”