India’s food regulator has proposed a nationwide ban on selling non-dairy ‘analogue paneer’ under the paneer name. The draft rules were published in the Gazette on September 22 and are open for public feedback for 60 days.

The draft would prohibit the sale of ‘paneer made of constituents not derived from milk’ as paneer. Products licensed under the ‘Analogue in Dairy Context’ category would have to drop the word paneer from their labels and marketing.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India acted on a September 26 recommendation from the Trade Promotion Council of India’s dairy committee. Analogue paneer is usually made with vegetable oils, starches and emulsifiers instead of milk.

The move follows state crackdowns: Maharashtra’s regulator found 109 of 308 paneer samples non-compliant. India’s paneer market is worth about Rs 73,140 crore, and the informal segment holds over 93 per cent of it.

Branded dairies such as Mother Dairy, Amul and Paras Dairy report rising demand. Final rules will be notified after the feedback window closes.