Says it will hurt religious sentiments of devotees

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is totally averse to the idea of allowing food inspectors into its temple kitchen ‘Potu’, which it says is a “pious” place, where the food offered to the presiding deity as ‘Naivedhyam’ is prepared by cooks, particularly those belonging to the Sri Vaishnavite sect.

Of late, the TTD is confronted with the demand to obtain a food safety licence from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to its ‘laddu’ prasadam. The laddu has been defined as food under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. It is against this backdrop that the FSSAI, following a RTI application by a Bengaluru-based activist T. Narasimhamurthy, recently directed the Central Licensing Authority in Chennai to inspect the ‘potu’ at Tirumala where the laddus are prepared, and obtain a license to run the kitchen.

But the temple administration seems to be in no mood to yield to the demand, which it says will not only hurt religious sentiments of devotees, but also tantamounts to transgression of the ancient tradition. Outsiders are not allowed to walk into the kitchen of any Sri Vaishnavite temple.

TTD Health officer S. Sermista told The Hindu that the laddus at Tirumala are prepared in strict adherence to the stipulations laid down by the FSSAI. The raw materials are thoroughly tested. The TTD has a state-of-the-art laboratory to check the quality of the raw materials as well as all the prasadams being prepared in the temple kitchen. The quality of laddus and other prasadams are checked thrice before being distributed to the devotees. Utmost importance is being attached to hygiene and upkeep of the surroundings inside the kitchen. Steam is used in the cleaning of the vessels and containers used in the cooking.

The Mysuru-based Central Food Training and Research Institute undertakes periodical check-ups and offers technical advice in addition to the validation of digital instruments as well as their upgradation, Ms. Sermista said.

She said ultimately it is for the management to take a decision whether or not to apply for a license for the laddu. She reiterated that laddu is a prasadam which is also provided at subsidised price and that it cannot be defined as ‘food’.

When her attention was drawn to the materials such as bolts and gutkha covers being found in the laddus, she brushed them aside attributing it to the internal conflict between the two groups of potu workers, who she claimed, indulged in an ugly war of defaming each other.