New Delhi, The NHRC has issued notices to all states and UTs, and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in the wake of a complaint raising concerns over the manufacturing, sale and consumption of ‘analogue paneer’.
The Commission has also taken note of the accompanying report titled ‘Analogue Paneer in India: A Food-Systems Threat to Health Equity’, published by the Centre for Health Equity, Advanced Study Institute of Asia. The report further records that ‘analogue paneer’ may involve ingredients including vegetable oils or fats, starches, milk solids, plant proteins, stabilisers, emulsifiers and artificial flavours, and that the resulting product may have a nutritional profile different from conventional paneer. The Commission is further of the view that, where a food product is permitted under the regulatory framework, the regulatory authorities must nevertheless ensure that its identity, composition and nature are adequately disclosed and that consumers are not misled into believing that a non-dairy analogue is conventional milk-derived paneer, reads the proceedings.
The representation raises issues concerning consumer protection, food safety, transparency in nomenclature and labelling, consistency of enforcement across states and Union Territories, and the adequacy of existing mechanisms to enable consumers to “distinguish between milk-derived paneer and dairy analogues,” reads the proceedings.
