Will Fake Paneer Sale Be Banned Across India? Food Body Chief Explains

Compliance with food safety rules is low in India but it is slowly changing, FSSAI ( Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) chief Rajit Punhani indicated today amid a countrywide crackdown on restaurants and packaged food and spices. The state governments have increased the inspections and there has been substantial improvement in the recent past, he said. 

There is also another factor, he said.

There are many inspections in which things are found to be okay, Punhani told NDTV in an exclusive interview. "It is when there are violations that gets highlighted in the media. So it is not that everyone is violating but the violations get highlighted," he said.

In recent months, more than 100,000 notices have been issued and around 5000 licenses have been suspended. More than 600 people have been arrested and around 1900 convictions made, he added.

Penalties have been imposed in about 33,000 cases.

"Overall that ecosystem of compliance is gradually coming in and we notice now that the percentage of violations is coming down," he added. 

Analogue Paneer To Be Banned Nationwide?

While some states have already banned analogue paneer, asked if FSSAI planning for a blanket ban, Punhani  said they are having an all-states meeting on September 24.

"Once all the states give us feedback and if there's a consensus, then we will also ban analogue paneer across the country," he said.

Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh Gujarat, Karnataka and a few others have already banned analogue paneer -- made mostly of vegetable oils, starches, emulsifiers and other additives. 

Analogue dairy products are available worldwide and analogue cheese is very popular in certain countries, Punhani said.

"But in India, because paneer is one of our major sources of food and protein, so eight states have already banned it because they want to ensure that their consumers get only milk-based paneer," he added. 

Sugar Salt Warnings

In the other key development in food safety, the Supreme Court-ordered warning labels in front of food packages will take some more time because of processes involved, Punhani said.

The warning about high sugar, salt and fat is likely to come in red hexagon labels -- the court will take the final call. 

If a product is high in fat or high in sugar or high in salt, it will be there on the warning label.

These warnings, he said, will be very clear so it is "very simple for the consumer to make out that this is a warning symbol".

Whether these labels come in local languages will depend on the manufacturer.

Though he did not give a time frame for the implementation, he said they will need time for issuing the notification. 

"We first have to issue a draft notification. Then we have to invite comments. We have to put it on the WTO website because there's a lot of trade affected because of this. And then we will have to give some time for relabelling because all the manufacturers will have to change their labels," he added. 

E-Commerce platforms will also have to change, showing manufacturing and expiry dates up close on the sites, he said. The deadline is September 30. 

On the whole, for the consumer, it is safer to buy products from stores or local vendors, he added.