A one-man inquiry commission appointed by the Andhra Pradesh government has reported that 7 million kg of ghee used for preparing Tirupati laddu prasadam was procured without mandatory quality testing.
The issue drew national attention after Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu alleged that animal fat had been mixed in the ghee during the previous YSR Congress government. Following a Supreme Court-directed probe, the CBI said animal fat was not found, but noted that substandard ghee had been used.
Based on this, the state constituted a commission headed by retired IAS officer Dinesh Kumar. In its report submitted to the government, the commission said Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials initially planned to implement the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s compulsory testing regime that came into force on July 1, 2022, but later reversed the decision and granted exemptions to suppliers.
The report said a Central Food Technological Research Institute lab test conducted on August 3, 2022 confirmed the presence of vegetable oils in ghee, but the findings were allegedly suppressed and the firms were not blacklisted. It also flagged contracts being awarded to unqualified companies, unusually low bid prices without scrutiny, and continued orders to certain suppliers even after issues were detected.
The commission further noted that TTD’s own laboratory lacks modern equipment to detect adulteration and that its upgradation was allegedly delayed for three years. It held the TTD administration, procurement committee members, senior officials and dairy experts responsible for the overall lapses and for continuing support to unfit vendors.
