Tirupati Laddu Prasadam Dispute: After the news of alleged mixing of animal fat in the 'prasadam' prepared for the devotees at Tirupati Balaji temple in Andhra Pradesh, the Food and Drug Administration Department in Mathura also became active and in the last 48 hours, a total of 13 samples of substances being sold as prasadam from different places have been collected and sent to the lab. Officials gave this information on Sunday.

Officials said that these samples have been taken from the shops located outside Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi, Thakur Banke Bihari temple of Vrindavan and Daan Ghati temple of Govardhan. Assistant Commissioner of Food Safety and Drug Administration Dhirendra Pratap Singh said that after the case of adulteration in Prasad came to light, the team took samples from the shops of Prasad outside Thakur Banke Bihari temple, Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi and Govardhan temple and they have been sent to the lab for testing.

The food department will run a checking campaign in the entire district.
He said that after the laboratory report comes, it will be clear whether there is any kind of adulteration in the items being sold here as prasad or not. He further said that from Monday, a campaign will be run on a large scale in the entire district to check the prasad. Different teams will go to every area and take samples and take action. Wherever the sale of prasad is found to be done in the open, a special campaign to collect samples will be run there.

He said that in the last two days the team had collected samples from about 13 places. Those samples have also been sent to the laboratory. The test report of the samples has not been received yet. According to the report, action will be taken against those whose samples are found unsuitable in the test as per law. The Assistant Commissioner said that all shopkeepers have been warned not to adulterate not only Prasad but also any kind of food item. He said that playing with the health of the people will not be tolerated at any cost. Strictest legal action will be taken against those doing so.