Mumbai: The FDA has issued an immediate, one-year state-wide ban on the manufacture, distribution and sale of all unstandardised analogue and non-dairy paneer, citing severe public health risks and widespread consumer deception.
The punishment for violations ranges from fines and imprisonment up to six months, and extending to life imprisonment in severe cases.
The order also extends to the hotel and catering industries, as well as any other eateries. While earlier the FDA had asked restaurants to declare analogue paneer, now there is a complete ban.
Under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, paneer is strictly defined as a standardised dairy product derived exclusively from milk using permitted coagulants, with milk fat serving as an essential, non-substitutable component.
The rules split paneer into different categories based on fat content. Standard general paneer can be sold either loose or packaged, and medium-fat or low-fat paneer must be sold exclusively in sealed packaging.
Any food item that breaks these rules or swaps out natural milk fat for cheap vegetable oil violates the law and cannot legally be called, sold, or served as “paneer”. FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said FDA tested 308 samples of paneer, and 79 samples were found substandard and 30 unsafe.
