State Food Safety team detects fungal infestation
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has destroyed a huge
quantity of Appam, a major prasadom at Lord Ayyappa Temple, owing to
fungal infestation.
As many as 1 lakh packets (each
packet contains seven Appams) of the prasasom which were found unfit for
human consumption have been burnt in the incinerator at the
Sannidhanam, TDB sources said.
The State Food Safety
inspection team detected the fungal infestation in random samples
collected for examination from the Devaswom store two days ago.
The
matter was brought to the notice of Special Commissioner appointed by
the Kerala High Court K. Babu who, in turn, directed the Joint
Commissioner of Food Safety to conduct a detailed examination of the
entire Appam stock at Sabarimala.
Talking to
The Hindu
, Mr. Babu said an expert team led by the Joint Commissioner of Food
Safety conducted a thorough examination of the Appam stock at the TDB
godown at the Sannidhanam on Thursday. The team found as many as one
lakh packets of Appam that had fungal infestation and were not fit for
human consumption.
The Special Commissioner directed
the TDB authorities not to supply the stale Appam to the devotees and to
take steps for its safe disposal at the earliest.
Mr.
Babu said the TDB Commissioner and the Joint Commissioner of Food
Safety had informed him that the entire stock of the fungus-infested
Appam was disposed of on Thursday night.
He said
Devaswom executive officer K. Sankaranarayana Pillai had clarified that
adding extra bananas to the rice flour for making the Appam soft on the
recommendations of the Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research
Institute might have affected the shelf life of the prasadom.
The Food Safety team had attributed the problem to the excessive water content in the Appam, Mr. Babu said.
Heavy loss
The
TDB has incurred a loss of at least Rs.25 lakh owing to the Appam going
stale, not to mention loss of goodwill and impact on devotees’
sentiments.
There were also allegations of
indifference to ensuring the quality of Appam reportedly owing to
difference of opinion among the board staff over the contract given for
Appam preparation at Sabarimala this year.
The
Special Commissioner said a detailed inquiry would be conducted soon
into the circumstances leading to deterioration in the prasadom quality.
He said strict instructions had been given to the board authorities to ensure the quality of Appam.
