Pathanamthitta: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to produce cardamom-less 'Aravana' for Sabarimala pilgrims from Thursday after the High Court of Kerala ordered to stop the distribution of the batch in use as it was found laced with pesticides.
TDB president K Ananthagopan told mediapersons after the court verdict that Board is also probing the possibility of procuring 'organic' cardamom.
“Instructions have been given to clean the machinery. From tomorrow (Thursday), pilgrims will be given cardamom-less Aravana,” Ananthagopan said.
“For Sabarimala pilgrims, 'Aravana' and 'Appam' are the prasadam they receive from Ayyappan. Their pilgrimage attains a meaningful completion only when they take home the prasadam.
“In the next few days, if we are able to procure organic cardamom, that will be used for making Aravana. But we have to check it for quality first,” Ananthagopan added.
According to the TDB president, every 300 kg mix, comprising various ingredient that is used for making 'Aravana', require 750gm of cardamom.
Ananthagopan claimed that the batch supplied by the petitioner, who used provide cardamom for Aravana, also was found to be lacking in quality.
In tests done by the Food Safety Authority, at least 14 types of pesticides were found in the 'Aravana' distributed at Sabarimala.
