On 19th September, a lab test report found that beef tallow, fish oil, lard (pig fat) and palm oil among other things, were being used to make the laddus, which are distributed as prasadam at the prominent Sri Venkateswara temple in Tirupati under YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government.
The report from the Centre of Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) lab at Gujarat’s National Dairy Development Board read, “The S value of all equations for sample coded as AB023654 are falling out of the range as prescribed by the method. If any S-value falls outside the corresponding limits, consider the sample to contain a foreign fat.”
The Tirumala Venkateswara Temple which is dedicated to Lord Venkateswara, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu is among the most revered Hindu temples worldwide. The temple is well-known for its grand rituals and laddu prasadam which is considered as a divine delicacy. Therefore, the shocking development has infuriated the devotees. However, the notorious Dravidianists have found the sensitive matter to poke fun at Hindus and mock them over the startling discovery.
One such person named Piyush Manush who describes himself as an environmentalist was seen mocking the transgression of the faith of the Hindu community, reported The Commune. “Did you get a good laddu? Just a few days back, we got cream bun a few days ago. We got a good bun. All these days you kept looking at others’ plates if they were consuming beef, you even checked their refrigerators, and you even killed. At least 100 crore people would have visited Tirupati. They would have got laddus. What happened? Did you enjoy the beef? Did you like it? You are done. At least now do not look at another person’s plate. Go do your work. Perumal himself gave a good laddu to you,” he stated in a video on X.
Beef laddoo for all hindus delivered by Perumal himself !! pic.twitter.com/pxhEcp6xAD
— Piyush Manush (@piyushmanush) September 19, 2024
Notably, on 18 September Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu accused the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy administration of using animal fat in making laddus served at the renowned Hindu temple during his address at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) legislative party meeting. “They (YSRC government) not only provided substandard food to the devotees, such as Anna Prasadam in Tirumala, but also used inferior quality ingredients to make Prasadam, which is offered to Lord Venkateswara. Instead of using pure ghee, they used animal fat,” he charged.
The chief minister further added, “Today, we are using pure ghee and cleansed the system in the temple. Quality of Prasadam and food have improved and steps are being taken to make further improvements.” His statement was eventually validated by the test findings. The conclusions drawn by the report revealed that there were residues of animal fat in the ghee used to prepare iconic Tirupati laddu prasadam. Furthermore, ingredients like soybean, sunflower, olive, rapeseed, linseed, wheat germ, maize germ, cotton seed, coconut, palm kernel fat, and palm oil were also used in making the laddus.
