Nandini ghee is a popular product of Karnataka Milk Federation.
| Photo Credit: MANJUNATH HS

The controversy over the ghee being supplied to the temple in Tirupati has led to an increase in demand for Nandini products.

“The TTD prasadam issue has created a high demand for clarified butter sold by Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) under the Nandini Ghee brand,” MLA and District Milk Union chairman Balachandra Jarkiholi said in Belagavi on September 23.

“Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s allegation of adulteration of laddus has created an unprecedented high demand for Nandini ghee in India,” the former KMF chairman told reporters.

Years ago, KMF supplied ghee to the temple to make laddus. Later, with a change in leadership in the temple committee, the order was cancelled, and tenders were called. KMF did not supply ghee as the company could not match the lowest quoted price. “We did not want to compromise on quality and therefore did not participate in the tender process. The tender for the supply of ghee was awarded to a private company,” Mr Jarkiholi explained.

“I do not know if the CM’s statement about animal fat and fish oil in the laddus is true. A high-level scientific inquiry has to decide on that. But this has led to a positive impact on KMF with the whole country talking about Nandini ghee. I thank Mr Naidu for increasing demand for Nandini products,” he said.

“KMF officials have told me that they are considering supplying ghee to TTD if the price and other conditions are right. It will help our farmers and improve our brand value,” the BJP MLA said.

Bengaluru:

Karnataka Milk Federation has installed a geo-positioning system on its vehicles that supply ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the Tirupati temple, following a row over substandard ‘ghee’ used in Tirupati laddus, a top official said on Saturday.

KMF managing director M K Jagadish said the Nandini Ghee supply was restored after the TTD awarded a tender to KMF a month ago.

Nandini is the popular brand of the Karnataka Milk Federation.

“We restored the supply of ghee (to TTD) a month ago. We have installed GPS and Geo Location Devices on the vehicles to find where they stop. This is to ensure that nowhere adulteration happens,” Jagadish told PTI.

He said the KMF got the contract to supply 350 tonnes of ghee.

“We will supply ghee as and when required,” he added.

Citing a lab report on Friday, the TTD stated that there was the presence of ‘lard’ (pig fat) and other impurities in the ghee.

TTD Executive Officer J Shyamala Rao said lab tests have revealed the presence of animal fat and lard in chosen samples and the board was in the process of blacklisting the contractor who supplied ‘adulterated’ ghee.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

Amid controversy over the use of animal fat in ghee at the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, the Karnataka government on Friday issued a directive mandating the use of Nandini brand ghee in all 34,000 temples that come under the state’s temple management body. 

The Karnataka government’s new directive requires that all temples under its jurisdiction use only Nandini ghee, produced by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), for temple rituals, including lighting lamps, preparing ‘prasada’, and in the ‘Dasoha Bhavans’ – places where devotees are served food. The official circular stressed that temple staff must ensure that the quality of ‘prasada’ is never compromised.

“In all the notified temples under the Religious Endowment Department of Karnataka State, it has been directed to use only Nandini Ghee for services, lamps, and preparation of all types of prasada and in Dasoha Bhavan. It has been suggested to maintain the quality in the prasada prepared in the temples,” the circular reads.

This directive comes in the wake of a larger controversy surrounding the alleged use of animal fat in ghee in the preparation of laddoos at the famous Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirupati, managed by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD). The controversy first erupted earlier this week when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu raised concerns over the quality of the ghee used at the temple, claiming that samples had tested positive for lard and other animal fats.

The Tirupati temple kitchen, which produces around 3 lakh laddoos daily, requires enormous quantities of ingredients, including 1,400 kg of ghee, along with other essentials like cashew nuts, raisins, cardamoms, gram flour, and sugar. The bulk of the ghee in question was reportedly sourced from Tamil Nadu’s Dindigul district.

The row quickly escalated as opposition leader Jagan Mohan Reddy found himself under fire. Accusations flew that during his tenure as Chief Minister, the ghee used to make Tirupati laddoos had been substandard, with claims of animal fat being used instead of traditional ghee. Mr Reddy vehemently denied these allegations, accusing the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of exploiting the issue for political gain.

The controversy reached the Supreme Court shortly after, with a petition being filed, claiming that the use of animal fats in temple food violated Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion and practice. The Health Ministry quickly demanded a detailed report on the issue, and Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi called for a thorough inquiry, insisting that “the culprit should be punished.”

As tensions mounted, temple authorities accused their ghee supplier of exploiting the temple’s lack of in-house food testing facilities. They argued that the absence of proper quality control had made the temple vulnerable to such scandals. Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Food Pvt Ltd, which had supplied ghee to the temple in June and July, defended itself, claiming that its product had passed multiple lab tests and constituted a mere 0.01 per cent of the temple’s ghee supply.

The controversy spiralled further when a report from a Gujarat state-run lab surfaced, indicating that samples of the ghee used in the Tirupati temple tested positive for fish oil, beef tallow, and lard – a form of pig fat.

“Even Tirupati laddoo was made with substandard ingredients… they used animal fat instead of ghee,” said Chief Minister Naidu. 

He vowed that his administration had since raised the quality standards for all temple ingredients, and announced that the temple would undergo a thorough sanitisation process. His son, Andhra IT Minister Nara Lokesh, added fuel to the fire by saying that the row had been triggered by an anti-corruption probe into the procurement of ghee and vegetables used for temple food.

In response, the YSRCP, headed by Jagan Mohan Reddy, launched a counterattack, accusing the TDP of a political vendetta. Former TTD Chairperson YV Subba Reddy called the allegations “unimaginable,” and ex-Chairperson Karunakar Reddy claimed the scandal was part of a smear campaign.