Tirumala To Deploy "E-Nose", "E-Tongue" Tech To Guard Prasadam Quality

The Andhra Pradesh government will soon launch a state-of-the-art food laboratory at Tirumala to ensure the quality and safety of prasadam and food served to devotees.

State Health Minister and BJP MLA Y Satya Kumar Yadav said the Rs 25-crore lab is being set up with advanced equipment to test the quality of nearly 60 raw materials used in preparing prasadam. These include ghee, cashew nuts, raisins, almonds, gram, sugar, cardamom, turmeric and chilli powder.

A special highlight of the facility will be the import of "E-Tongue" and "E-Nose" machines from France for Rs 3.5 crore. These machines can detect even minute changes in the quality of ghee.

"Even the slightest drop in quality can be identified by these machines," Satya Kumar said. 

The minister informed that the lab works are 90% complete and operations are expected to begin next month while the equipment is likely to be installed by May. 

The lab is being set up following an agreement signed on October 8, 2024, between the state Health Department and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in New Delhi. 

FSSAI has sanctioned Rs 23 crore for the project. The lab is being developed in a renovated 12,000 sq ft two-storey building at Tirumala.

Equipped with 50 advanced instruments, the laboratory will conduct tests in microbiology, chemistry and sensory analysis. It can detect up to 200 types of pesticide residues, heavy metals, microbes and antibiotic traces in food items and water samples. TTD's water and prasadam samples will also be regularly examined.

Around 40 staff members from the Health Department and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams will manage the lab.

Officials said this will be the first such highly advanced food testing facility at a major pilgrimage centre in Andhra Pradesh, aimed at restoring and maintaining public confidence in the quality of offerings at Tirumala.

In 2024, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu made a revelation about ghee adulteration at the world's richest Hindu hills shrine followed by Supreme court appointing a CBI-led SIT investigation into the adulteration allegation. 

According to the SIT report, adulterated ghee worth about Rs 250 crore was allegedly used in making prasadam between 2019 and 2024, supplied in large quantities over several years.  

The probe, conducted under court oversight and involving central and state agencies, has questioned former Tirupati Temple Board officials and examined procurement records.

The issue has also triggered politics between the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which has accused the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government of mismanagement and compromised food quality, while the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has denied the allegation and blamed the ruling party in return and condemned the state's decision to appoint a one-man committee to review the SIT findings.