State Bureau, Naidunia, Bhopal: Following in the footsteps of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh has banned the production, storage, sale, and consumption of analogue paneer. In response to the directive, food safety authorities launched immediate statewide inspections to crack down on suspected adulteration. Within just 24 hours of the ban, officials seized approximately 8,000 kilograms of material, including paneer, ghee, and mawa, and collected over 100 samples of paneer, with results expected within two weeks.
Earlier in April, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had raised concerns regarding the use of non-dairy ingredients in paneer. While a public notice was issued to all states, the Food and Drug Administration in Madhya Pradesh initiated action only after neighbouring Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat imposed bans.
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Furthermore, despite 13 per cent of paneer samples failing quality tests in 2025-26, monitoring was not intensified. Had these standards been strictly followed earlier, the ban on analogue paneer might not have been necessary.
FSSAI Mandates Strict Inspections And Labelling Of Analogue Paneer
In its guidelines, the FSSAI clearly instructed states to closely monitor manufacturing units, hotels, and other food outlets. The agency directed that analogue paneer must be clearly labelled "analogue" and ordered thorough inspections of all production units.
The notice clearly stated that selling analogue paneer under the guise of real paneer is a serious violation of the law and must be stopped immediately. Additionally, hotel operators were instructed to train their kitchen staff to ensure analogue paneer is never used or served as genuine paneer.
This issue was raised earlier in 2025 during an FSSAI National Advisory Committee meeting, where Food Safety Commissioners from several states expressed concern that analogue paneer was being used and served in hotels as milk-based paneer without proper consumer disclosure.
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Call For Packaging To Differentiate Analogue Paneer
A food safety official noted that it is difficult to distinguish between milk-based paneer and analogue paneer when the products are sold loose. To address this, officials suggested that the FSSAI should issue instructions mandating that analogue paneer be sold in packaged form. Cear product information on the label would make it far easier for both consumers and enforcement officers to identify analogue paneer.