‘Adulteration with fish oil detectable by smell alone’

Kannan, a quality control officer at the Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Food Private Limited, has described the allegations against the company for supplying adulterated ghee to the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Tirupati as “unsubstantiated,” adding that fish oil is “more expensive” than ghee.

His comment came a day after the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) initiated legal action against the company and blacklisted them. This comes as the aftermath of a report by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which claimed that traces of animal fats were found in the ghee supplied by the company for preparation of laddus.

Speaking to a Tamil news channel on Friday, Kannan said, “These allegations, ranging from vegetable oil to animal fat adulteration, are severely damaging to our business. Moreover, the claim that fish oil was added is absurd, as fish oil is more expensive than ghee. Any adulteration of this kind would immediately be detectable by smell alone.”

Kannan stated that the company is facing such accusations for the first time since it began operations in 1988, adding that the company contributes to a “very small volume” of the total ghee used for TTD’s laddu production.