Chief Minister M. K. Stalin on Monday appreciated the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department for obtaining BHOG certification for prasadam (offering to deities) and food distributed as part of Annadhanam scheme at 314 temples in the State.
As a token of appreciation, he met the executive officers of 15 temples at an event at the Secretariat and handed over the Blissful Hygienic Offering to God (BHOG) certificates issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
A total of 754 temples provide food to around 75,000 persons daily under the Annadhanam scheme, for which ₹90 crore is spent per year. On an average six lakh devotees visit the 36,000-odd temples under the purview of the department daily and many of them are provided prasadam in some form.
Minister for HR&CE P. K. Sekarbabu said that the process of certification for 440 more temples was under way. “We wanted this to be an example of how food can be prepared in a hygienic manner and provided free to a large number of people. The certification is a continuous process and not a one-time thing,” he added.
Minister for Health M. Subramanian and senior officials were present.
