26/09/2026
| India's food safety regulator has proposed new rules that would stop manufacturers and sellers from using the word "paneer" for products made from non-milk ingredients, in a nationwide crackdown on misleading analogue dairy products.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has released the draft Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Amendment Regulations, 2026, seeking to ensure that only products meeting the dairy definition can be represented and marketed as paneer.
Under the proposal, products already licensed or registered under the "Analogue in Dairy Context" category will have to discontinue the use of the term "Paneer" in their name, labelling and marketing if they are made from constituents not derived from milk.
Analogue paneer is designed to resemble conventional paneer but may replace milk fat or milk protein with ingredients such as vegetable oils, fats or vegetable proteins.
FSSAI's existing standard defines paneer as a product prepared from milk or milk solids. Importantly, the draft does not necessarily prohibit every non-dairy paneer-like product from being sold.
Instead, it proposes prohibiting such products from being manufactured, sold or marketed as "paneer", meaning companies could potentially continue selling compliant analogue products under different, clearly distinguishable names.
The move follows enforcement action across several states.
At least eight states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, have already introduced restrictions targeting analogue paneer.
Earlier this year, FSSAI also warned that selling cheese analogue as paneer amounted to a serious violation and directed businesses to use accurate product names.
