The Maharashtra government has officially slapped a one-year statewide ban on the manufacture and sale of “analogue” or non-dairy paneer, citing serious public health concerns and widespread food safety violations. With this decisive move, Maharashtra becomes only the second state in the country—following Chhattisgarh—to outlaw the synthetic substitute.

The sweeping ban, detailed in a gazette notification issued by Maharashtra Food Safety Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, completely prohibits the manufacturing, processing, preparation, packing, storage, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of analogue paneer across the state.

The crackdown follows a year-long surveillance and enforcement drive by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Officials revealed that routine inspections and awareness campaigns failed to curb the illegal practice, with staggering 35.4% of analyzed samples failing to conform to prescribed standards. Investigators found that numerous hotels, restaurants, caterers, and food establishments were secretly substituting conventional dairy paneer with analogue paneer on menus, invoices, and display boards without any disclosure to customers.

Analogue paneer is a cheap, non-dairy imitation manufactured using vegetable oils, starches, emulsifiers, and various additives in place of milk fat. Aside from its lower production cost, it generally contains significantly lower protein levels and minimal nutritional value compared to real paneer. Furthermore, FDA inspections uncovered that the product was frequently transported and sold completely unlabelled, lacking original packaging, invoices, or batch identification, making it impossible to trace its source.

Because the Food Safety and Standards Act restricts such prohibitory orders to a maximum period of one year, the government has implemented strict penal measures to deter offenders during this window. Serving analogue paneer as conventional dairy without consumer consent constitutes an unfair trade practice. Depending on the extent of harm caused, violators face severe legal repercussions ranging from six months in prison and a one lakh rupee fine, all the way up to life imprisonment and a minimum fine of ten lakh rupees if consumption results in death.

Lawmakers and officials are already looking beyond paneer. BJP MLA Vikram Pachpute, who originally brought the issue to the state legislature, welcomed the government’s pioneering step and urged authorities to scrutinize cheese analogues next, warning that consumers face similar deceptive marketing practices with imitation cheese products.