FSSAI to tighten scrutiny, weighs central ban on non-dairy paneer

New Delhi: India's food regulator intends to shift towards tighter regulations and implementation to move towards healthier food ecosystem. It is weighing a central rule to ban analogue paneer as it steps up scrutiny of food products ahead of the festive season.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is also preparing a draft regulation to prohibit the sale of foods high in fat, sugar and salt within 50 metres of schools across the country, while pushing quick-commerce platforms to display manufacturing and expiry dates more prominently on their apps.

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Rajit Punhani, chief executive officer of FSSAI, said the authority was working on a central regulation on analogue paneer following bans by several states and enforcement action across the country.

Punjab, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are among the states that have imposed restrictions on analogue or non-dairy paneer.

The prohibitions cover activities including the manufacture, processing, preparation, packing, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of such products.

The state-level action comes amid concerns over products that resemble dairy foods but are made partly or entirely with non-dairy ingredients. Analogue is made with milk fat or milk solids with vegetable oil, vegetable fat or other non-dairy ingredients. It may look and taste like paneer, but it is not the same as traditional dairy paneer made from milk and does not have the nutritional value of paneer either.

Talking about recent enforcement action involving ecommerce and quick-commerce companies, Punhani said one of the regulator's concerns was the absence of manufacturing and expiry dates on online platforms.

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"Date of manufacturing and expiry are not mentioned on ecommerce platforms. We are trying to nudge them to put it," Punhani said.

The proposed restrictions around schools form part of FSSAI's broader Eat Right India initiative, which seeks to promote safer and more nutritious diets while reducing excessive consumption of salt, sugar and unhealthy fats.

"Safe food must also be healthy. Healthy food must become an easy and informed choice, and a cheaper choice," Punhani said at an event organised by Illness to Wellness Foundation, adding that the regulator's preventive-health efforts were increasingly focused on changing food choices before diet-related illnesses developed.

Under its Eat Right programme, FSSAI has been working across schools, colleges, railway stations and other public spaces to increase awareness about healthier diets.