CH NEWS, BENGALURU In a major regulatory crackdown aimed at safeguarding consumer health and eliminating deceptive market practices, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has introduced a comprehensive draft proposal to prohibit the use of the term “paneer” for any food item not manufactured exclusively from milk. The landmark regulatory intervention addresses the surging commercial proliferation of "analogue paneer"—a cheap, synthetic imitation typically fabricated from vegetable fats like palm oil, starches, emulsifiers, and industrial binding agents instead of authentic dairy. These substitutes are engineered to closely mimic the physical texture and appearance of traditional cottage cheese, frequently finding their way into commercial kitchens, restaurants, and retail packaging without adequate customer disclosure. Under the newly formulated draft amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, the apex food regulator seeks to insert a dedicated structural category explicitly covering "paneer made of constituents not derived from milk". The proposed rules mandate that any food product currently registered or licensed under the 'Analogue in Dairy Context' classification must immediately drop the word “paneer” from its commercial nomenclature, product descriptions, marketing campaigns, and packaging labels. Food business operators, hotels, cloud kitchens, and catering establishments utilizing dairy substitutes will be legally bound to provide prominent, transparent disclosures across physical menu cards, digital food aggregator listings, and display boards, ensuring buyers are fully cognizant of product composition. Health specialists have consistently warned that regular consumption of synthetic dairy analogues—particularly by vulnerable demographics such as children, the elderly, and individuals managing metabolic conditions like diabetes or obesity—can negatively affect dietary quality and introduce unnecessary trans fats and additives. The regulatory tightening arrives as India's massive multi-billion-dollar dairy sector faces intense economic pressure from low-cost imitations. While authentic milk-derived paneer involves higher raw material overheads for commercial vendors, synthetic substitutes are often marketed deceptively at a fraction of the cost. Several state enforcement wings and major food delivery aggregators have already initiated strict compliance checks, penalizing establishments failing to separate genuine dairy offerings from chemical replicas. FSSAI has made the official draft notification public, opening a mandatory 60-day window for stakeholders, consumer advocacy groups, and members of the public to submit formal objections, suggestions, or feedback before the regulation is finalized and legally enforced nationwide.