After pesticide scare, prasad at Sabarimala made sans cardamom

Tests conducted at two labs of Food Safety Authority in the state capital and Food Safety and Standard Authority of India in Kochi had found high traces of pesticide in the prasad.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) that runs the Sabarimala temple in Kerala has decided to produce cardamom-less “aravana payasam”, main prasad of the temple, after the high court ordered the shrine not to distribute a batch of payasam that contained pesticide-laced cardamom seeds.

Devotees pay obeisance at Sabarimala Temple . (ANI pic service)

“We will clean all machines and make payasam without cardamom for the time being. From Thursday onwards, we will distribute payasam sans cardamom and efforts are on to procure organic cardamom,” said TDB president K Ananthagopan.

Tests conducted at two labs of Food Safety Authority in the state capital and Food Safety and Standard Authority of India in Kochi had found high traces of pesticide in the prasad.

The tests were conducted on the directions of the high court, last week, after many devotees complained about its quality. Both labs, in its report in the court, later confirmed the presence of chemicals beyond permissible limits. Subsequently, the high court on Wednesday ordered the shrine board not to distribute the batch of payasam that contained pesticide-laced seeds.