Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
AR Dairy Food Private Limited, the Tamil Nadu-based company that allegedly supplied ghee containing animal fat to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), is run by Muslims.
Fact
Viral screenshot shows details of Pakistan-based food retailer, directors of AR Dairy are Rajasekaran R, Suria Prabha R and Srinivasan SR.
Who is AR Dairy’s owner? The Tamil Nadu-based company, which allegedly supplied adulterated ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati temple and is under the scanner in the Tirupati laddu controversy, was the subject of several communally charged posts across all social media platforms, claiming that the owners and main officials are all Muslims.
“Name and shame these people who got the contract to make prasadam for Tirupati temple, looking at these names no wonder that beef fat and other non-vegetarian ingredients were found mixed in the prasadam and unsuspecting devotees visiting Tirupathi temple ate this prasadam (sic),” read one X post, attaching a purported screenshot of the company’s profile online, which listed out the “Muslim” employees, including the CEO.
The archived version of the post can be seen here. We also received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044) , too, requesting us to fact-check it.
The Firm At The Centre Of The Row
AR Dairy Food Private Limited found itself at the centre of the raging controversy after a laboratory report reportedly detected the presence of “beef tallow”, “pig lard” and “fish oil” in the renowned Tirupati laddus offered to devotees at the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh.
The Dindigul-based company, accused of providing products of “substandard quality” to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the temple and production of the laddus, however, denied allegations of any ‘animal fat’ being present in their product, stating that it had only supplied milk to the TTD in the months of June and July, while calling the allegations “unsubstantiated”. A day after the TTD initiated legal action against AR Dairy Food Private Limited for allegedly supplying adulterated ghee to the Sri Venkateswara Temple, the company questioned the report on which the decision was based. Earlier, TTD executive officer J Shyamala Rao had announced that samples from AR Dairy’s ghee had been found “highly adulterated”.
Fact Check
Newscherk noticed that the name of the company in the viral screenshot read AR Foods (Pvt) Limited, not AR Dairy Food Private Limited, indicating that they were two different companies with similar names.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a relevant keyword search using the names of the company and employees, which led us to this contact discovery platform RocketReach’s page on AR Foods (Pvt) Limited, where we saw that the food retailer was based in Islamabad, Pakistan.
We also came across a section on the company’s profile (left), listing out its top employees. A comparison shows that it is the same retailer, with the details that reveal the location to be Pakistan erased in the screenshot (right).
The official website of the company can be seen here, confirming it to be from Islamabad, Pakistan. “A.R. Foods is generations’ old household name in Pakistan. It has been a part of Pakistani kitchens due to the best quality products and a name to trust. We were founded in 1970 with a strong commitment to deliver valued products to its customers…”, read the bio on the website, stating that the company’s major products were packaged spices.
About AR Dairy Food Private Limited
Newschecker next ran a keyword search for “AR Dairy Food Private Limited”, which led us to the official website of Raaj Milk, confirming the company to be from Dindigul. “A.R. Dairy Food Private Limited, established in the year 1995 for making milk and milk products. The company is focussed entirely in delivering the nutritional value of milk in its best form to the customers,” read the bio on the website.
The directors’ profile section on the website names Rajasekaran R as the managing director, Suria Prabha R and Srinivasan S R as directors, contradicting the viral claim of the company being run by Muslims. Similarly, we looked up the technical team of the company, which also contradicted the viral claim and names seen in the screenshot. We also looked up the company details on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, where Rajasekaran Suriyaprabha and Srinivasalunaidu Ramchandran Srinivasan were listed as directors, while Raju Rajasekaran was listed as MD.
We came across this Hindustan Times report, dated September 21, 2024, reiterating that The Tamil Nadu-based dairy company was started in 1995 and is managed by three directors — Rajasekaran R, Suria Prabha R and Srinivasan SR. Also, Rajasekaran R addressed the allegations, telling News18, “There is no possibility of the presence of animal fat in the ghee. We are using only cow milk for our ghee. Each and every batch is tested and we have laboratory reports. The ghee we produce is dispatched only after proper testing,” adding that the Tirupati temple was not using only their ghee, and that four to five suppliers were involved.
UPDATE ON 24/11/2024: We reached out to AR Dairy Food Private Limited, where Srinivasan from the liaison team confirmed to Newschecker that the owners of the company are not Muslims.
Also Read: Viral Video Of ‘Vandalism At Toll Plaza In Chandigarh’ Is Actually From Bangladesh
Conclusion
Viral screenshot showing officials of Pakistan-based food retailer falsely shared as profile of Tamil Nadu firm at the centre of a storm over allegations that ghee supplied by it to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) to prepare Tirupati laddoos contained animal fat.
Result: False
Sources
RocketReach page, AR Foods (Pvt) Limited
Raaj Milk website
HT report, September 21, 2024
News18 report, September 20, 2024
(with inputs from Vijayalakshmi Balasubramaniyan, Newschecker Tamil)
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
