Food Safety Officials Reveal Shocking Reports Of Paneer Being Most Adulterated Food Product In India

India’s widely popular “paneer” is now facing intense scrutiny from food safety authorities. Inspection revealed that paneer has become one of the most adulterated foods in the country.

Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi urged Health Minister J.P. Nadda to take urgent and decisive action after recently finding that many restaurants, food joints, and local vendors are selling adulterated or fake paneer.

What is 'fake' paneer?

Fake paneer refers to adulterated paneer or paneer produced using inauthentic ingredients to replicate the real paneer's look and feel. Analogue paneer, or the “fake” one, is a synthetic paneer that is used as a substitute for traditional paneer, using cheaper, non-dairy ingredients.

While real paneer is prepared by curdling fresh milk with lemon juice or vinegar, this 'fake' paneer contains vegetable fats, starches, etc.

This deceptive technique reduces the product's nutritional value and quality, leading to potential health hazards for consumers.

Last year, India’s leading restaurant aggregator Zomato was tangled in the fake paneer controversy. The controversy was that Deepinder Goyal’s company was selling “fake” paneer to restaurants on Hyperpure, its B2B service. 

More recently, Gauri Khan's restaurant, Torii, was involved in the same controversy.

Was Gauri Khan's Torii selling analogue paneer?

Influencer Sarthak Sachdeva performed a quick paneer quality check at several celebrity-owned restaurants, and his experiment presented shocking results as Gauri Khan’s eatery allegedly failed to pass the iodine test, as the paneer turned dark.

Sarthak said, “Shah Rukh Khan ke restaurant mein paneer nakli tha. Ye dekh ke mere toh hosh udd gaye the."(Shah Rukh Khan's restaurant is selling fake paneer. I completely lost my mind on seeing this!)

The video became viral, and netizens expressed their concerns. 

Of the 702 food samples tested during routine quality checks between April 2024 and March 2025 in Noida and Greater Noida, paneer topped the list of adulterated items. 

83% of paneer samples failed to meet the prescribed food safety standards, and 40% of those were deemed unsafe for human consumption, alarming health experts, consumers, and the government alike.

Also read: ‘Influencers Make Poor Founders’: Bombay Shaving Company CEO Bashes Creator-led Startups (startuppedia.in)