Samples of ghee, jaggery used for laddu prasadam at Durga Temple sent for lab tests

VIJAYAWADA: Amid the row over ghee adulteration and alleged use of animal fat in the making of Tirumala Laddu prasadam, officials have conducted inspections at the Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam temple atop Indrakeeladri.

Officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said they went to the temple and collected samples of ghee, jaggery and split chickpeas used in the laddu prasadam preparation on Monday. These were sent for testing at an advanced laboratory in Hyderabad on Tuesday, they said.

According to the temple’s additional executive officer K Chandrasekhar, the temple has returned a load of cashew nuts and raisins after it was noticed that the supplied cashews were uncrushed. The labels on the raisin boxes were missing.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Durga temple EO Rama Rao said, test results were awaited. “The ingredients supplied to the temple are regularly checked for quality and substandard items, if any, are returned.”