Tirupati laddu row: Samples of 43 food items collected from shops in Mathura, Vrindavan

The Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) in Mathura collected 43 food samples from 15 shops near religious sites in Mathura, Vrindavan, and surrounding areas on Monday.

As reported by PTI, officials said that a sample of 'peda' has been sent to Lucknow for testing. FSDA Assistant Commissioner Dhirendra Pratap Singh stated that the sampling campaign included a variety of items such as sweets and milk-based products, including paneer, barfi, milk cake, rasgulla, imarti, sonpapdi, and various spices.

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He said 42 of them were found to be within the standard but one sample of 'peda' was sent to Lucknow for testing.

Singh said all the samples were collected on Sunday and Monday from the shops around the temples.

Earlier, Rajasthan launched a drive from September 23 to 26 to verify the purity of bhogs and prasadams at temples statewide. Meanwhile, Karnataka has mandated testing for temple prasadam and specified the use of only Nandini ghee in its preparation.

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In Uttar Pradesh, the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) has collected 13 samples of prasadam from prominent temples in Mathura for testing.

Many political and religious leaders have called for strict measures to protect the sanctity of temples after Chief Minister Naidu alleged on September 18 that the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government had used substandard ingredients and animal fat in Tirupati laddus.

While YSRC chief Jagan Mohan Reddy has accused Naidu of lying and has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to intervene, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Monday said Reddy should desist from such "drama" and allow the law to take its own course so that culprits are punished.

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"He (Reddy) being an ex-chief minister, he could have just said go ahead, whoever the perpetrators or culprits are, let them get punished. If he is very clean in his heart, there is no need to do all this drama. That's what I feel," Kalyan told PTI Videos at Janasena party office in Mangalagiri.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had on Sunday announced a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations.

Stepping in, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked A R Diary Food Private Ltd why its central licence should not be suspended for contravention of the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011, according to sources.

According to the notice, FSSAI said it received information from The Director of the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh), that A R Dairy Food Private Ltd in Dindigul was one of the suppliers of ghee to TTD for the last four years.

Further, as per the information, the ghee procurement committee of TTD has sent all the samples supplied to TTD for testing to NDDB CALF Lab at Anand, Gujarat, it said.

(With inputs from PTI)