INDIA, October 26, 2024 (India Today): Two iconic Hindu shrines, over 745 miles apart, seem to have been brought closer by one controversy. Following the allegations of animal fat-laced adulterated ghee being used to prepare the popular laddoo prasad at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, the BJP government in Odisha has decided that ghee produced by the Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation alone would be used for puja as well as any offerings to God at the Jagannath Temple in Puri.
“We have asked OMFED to supply pure ghee to the Srimandir. It is a matter of faith of the people, and that cannot be risked,” said Prithviraj Harichandan, Odisha minister of law, works and excise. The Ghee for the Jagannath Temple is currently sourced from both OMFED and private entities. Odisha government sources said that since OMFED is a state-run cooperative, supplies solely from it would guarantee quality. Given the recemt focus on the Jagannath shrine, a precautionary measure regarding ghee was only natural after the huge controversy at the Tirupati Temple. The minister said that the temple needs five to seven tons of ghee every month, and that a steady supply of the same had been promised by the cooperative.
More at source.
https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india-today-insight/story/ghee-for-jagannath-temple-how-odisha-plans-to-avoid-tirupati-like-row-2623396-2024-10-26