Uttarakhand: SOP issued for the quality of Bhog Prasad in Badri-Kedar, step taken after Tirupati temple case
After the Tirupati temple case, BKTC issued SOP for the Prasad of Badrinath, Kedarnath Dham. Food safety audit will be done at least once a year.
Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the quality and purity of Bhog and Prasad in temples under BKTC apart from Badrinath, Kedarnath Dham, in which guidelines have been given for preparing Bhog Prasad and food material used in it, storage along with monitoring.
Food safety audit of bhog prasad will be conducted at least once a year. After the case of adulteration in ghee laddus given as prasad in Tirupati temple came to light, BKTC chief executive officer Vijay Prasad Thapliyal has also issued SOP for bhog and prasad in Badrinath, Kedarnath Dham and other temples.
Instructions were given to check the rice, oil, ghee, spices, saffron used in the Prasad and Bhog and to buy it from a reliable trader. The oil used for preparing Bhog and Prasad should not be used more than three times. Apart from this, the employees preparing Bhog and Prasad were asked to take special care of hygiene.
Food items should not be kept in stock for a long time. Regular monitoring will be done to check quality and purity. Along with this, food safety audit of bhog and prasad will be done once a year, in which food items will be tested in a laboratory authorized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.