Amaravati, March 20 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will inaugurate a state-of-the-art food laboratory in Tirumala on Saturday to ensure stringent quality checks and maintain transparency in supplies.
Naidu arrived in Tirumala on Friday as part of his two-day visit to the temple town.
"A state-of-the-art food laboratory, equipped with advanced e-tongue and e-nose systems, will be inaugurated in Tirumala on Saturday to ensure stringent quality checks and enhance transparency in supplies," Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav said in an official release on Friday.
Yadav said that the facility will ensure stringent quality checks of Srivari laddu, anna prasadam, ghee, oil, milk and other ingredients used in preparation.
The health minister observed that this is the first such food laboratory in a pilgrimage centre in the country, reinforcing devotees' faith and ensuring transparency in prasadam quality.
He said that the lab is capable of identifying pesticide residues, preservatives, heavy metals and microbial contamination through chemical and microbiological analysis.
The laboratory has been established following an agreement between the state government and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), signed in New Delhi on October 8, 2024.
Spanning 12,000 square feet in Tirumala, the facility was developed with support from both the Centre and the state.
The project, initiated on June 1 last year, has been completed recently, with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) providing land and the Centre funding the infrastructure.
The laboratory has been set up at a cost of around Rs 25 crore, including nearly Rs 10 crore spent on advanced equipment and machinery.
The e-tongue and e-nose systems, being procured from France at a cost of about Rs 3 crore, will analyze taste and aroma profiles to detect even micro-level quality variations.
The facility houses around 50 instruments and can conduct dozens of tests on each sample, including up to 50 different parameters for a single sample.
Samples of prasadam, water and raw materials such as ghee, cashew nuts, raisins, almonds, chickpeas, sugar, cardamom, turmeric and chilli powder will be tested.
The lab will examine fat content in ghee and oil, detect the presence of vegetable oil or animal fat, and assess energy levels and bacterial contamination in laddus.
Currently, only basic-level testing of food and water samples is conducted at the existing Tirumala laboratory, established in 1981, upgraded in 1988, and accredited by NABL in 2018, he noted.
TTD is the official custodian of Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirupati, the richest Hindu shrine in the world.