Maharashtra govt bans analogue paneer for one year citing food safety violations and consumer protection

The Maharashtra government has imposed a oneyear statewide ban on the manufacture processing storage distribution and sale of analogue paneer citing concerns over public health and repeated violations of food safety regulationsThe decision was announced through a gazette notification issued by Maharashtra Food Safety Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe With the move Maharashtra has become the second state after Chhattisgarh to prohibit the sale of analogue paneerAccording to the Food and Drug Administration FDA inspections over the past year revealed that several hotels restaurants caterers and food establishments were serving analogue paneer in place of conventional dairy paneer without informing consumers through menus invoices or display boardsFDA says substitute was sold without proper disclosureAnalogue paneer is a nondairy product prepared using vegetable oils starches emulsifiers and other food additives instead of milk fat It is significantly cheaper to manufacture than conventional paneer and generally contains lower protein levelsThe FDA said consumers were often not informed that they were being served a substitute product which amounts to misleading food labelling and unfair trade practices under the Food Safety and Standards ActThe notification prohibits the manufacture processing preparation packing storage transportation distribution wholesale and retail sale as well as the offering for sale of analogue paneer across Maharashtra for one yearAn FDA official said the Food Safety and Standards Act permits such prohibitory orders only for a maximum period of one yearThe law itself has a provision of banning such items for one year only As per our information analogue paneer has very low nutritional value But there is no legal support for us to put a complete ban on such types of paneer the official told PTIViolations found during yearlong enforcement driveThe ban follows a yearlong surveillance and enforcement campaign conducted by the FDA across the stateAccording to the department 354 per cent of analogue paneer samples collected during inspections failed to meet prescribed food safety standardsThe FDA said routine inspections laboratory testing and awareness campaigns had not been sufficient to prevent the sale of improperly labelled analogue paneerOfficials also found that the product was frequently transported and sold without original packaging mandatory labels invoices batch numbers or traceability documents making it difficult to identify its origin and monitor compliance with food safety regulationsThe department concluded that existing enforcement measures had proved inadequate to protect consumers from misleading food practicesOffenders may face severe penaltiesThe FDA warned that any food business operator found serving analogue paneer as conventional dairy paneer without informing consumers would face action under the Food Safety and Standards ActDepending on the nature of the violation and its consequences penalties can range from six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh to life imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh if the consumption of unsafe food results in a persons deathOfficials said the stringent penalties are intended to deter food business operators from misrepresenting substitute products as dairy productsCall for scrutiny of cheese analoguesBJP MLA Vikram Pachpute who had raised the issue in the Maharashtra Legislature and demanded a ban on analogue paneer welcomed the governments decisionHe described the move as an important step towards protecting consumer health and preventing misleading food practicesPachpute also urged the state government to examine the sale of cheese analogue products alleging that some businesses were marketing or selling them as conventional cheese without adequately informing consumersWith inputs from PTI