Two pillars of food safety

The finding that nearly 70% of paneer samples collected across several urban areas in Assam over the past ten months failed quality and safety standards is a serious alarm for public health and food safety. The crackdown against food adulteration is laudable, but deterrent punishments and continuous vigil against unscrupulous traders remain critical to guarantee strict adherence to food safety and standards. The imposition of statewide prohibition on manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of adulterated paneer and other dairy products is required to be followed with massive awareness drive among consumers to strengthen public vigil against food adulteration. Many consumers tend to buy cheaper unbranded dairy products instead of branded and Food Safety Standards Authority (FSSAI)-licensed products, which makes them vulnerable to deceptive, adulterated, substandard, and unsafe food products sold in the markets. The absence of an FSSAI licence number and adequate labelling make it challenging for food safety officials to track the origin and distribution chain, allowing manufacturers, distributors and sellers of adulterated, substandard and unsafe food products evade accountability. The state government wisely decides to treat the manufacture as a response to their failure to produce any authentic purchase receipt, addressing the traceability challenge and fixing accountability along the entire manufacturing and distribution chain. The demand for paneer has increased in the state not just during festival seasons but also to cater to rising demand for dishes made to serve in restaurants, hotels, street food carts, marriage and other social events. Strengthening vigilance and frequently collecting samples for testing from these sources is critical to effectively enforcing the prohibition on fake paneer. The state deploying more mobile testing laboratories – Food Safety on Wheels – is essential to enhance regulatory oversight with the help of on-the-spot testing facilities.  The increased seizure of adulterated, unsafe, and substandard paneer across states has brought the proposed amendment by FSSAI to the forefront of policy discussions, aiming to restrict the manufacturing and sale of analogue products as paneer. The apex food regulator has proposed that the manufacturing and sale of analogue products such as paneer need to be restricted to prevent misleading consumers about the nature and composition of the product. The draft notification issued in September proposes that products already licensed or registered under the ‘Analogue in Dairy Context’ category shall discontinue the use of the term “Paneer” in their nomenclature, labelling or marketing. The analogue paneer is made by partially or completely replacing milk fat and other milk constituents with lower-cost substitutes such as vegetable oil, palm oil or starch to make a food product that resembles traditional dairy paneer. The FSSAI refers to ‘Analogue in Dairy Context’ as all lookalikes of milk products and composite milk products listed/standardised in its regulations when compositionally altered by substituting their major milk constituents (milk fat and milk protein) with non-milk constituents (e.g., vegetable oil/fat and vegetable protein). Existing FSSAI norms mandate that analogue products, such as analogue paneer, should be licensed as standard food products registered under the regular manufacturing category, but they must be clearly classified and labelled to inform consumers that they are not actual dairy paneer. If the FSSAI draft is finalised, paneer analogues will be banned from using the term “Paneer” on labels or in marketing. This is a rational move to safeguard consumers from deception and passing paneer analogues as dairy paneer. While proper labelling will empower consumers to make informed choices between purchasing actual dairy paneer and analogues that resemble paneer but with clear labelling about their ingredients, the real challenge will be preventing the sale of unbranded analogues without any label and without a duly issued FSSAI licence as paneer in the market. The pragmatic solution to the problem is to educate consumers about the importance of insisting on an FSSAI licence for all food items sold in the market. The FSSAI prohibits any food business without a valid licence and registration, yet most consumers are unaware of this legal safeguard designed to protect public health and ensure maintenance of food safety standards. Greater consumer awareness of this legal protection can be a powerful tool for holding food business owners accountable and ensuring food safety compliance, thereby preventing the continuation of unlicensed food businesses. Since the number of food safety officials has not kept up with the rapid growth of food businesses nationwide, enhancing consumer awareness of food safety is a practical strategy to combat food adulteration and fraud. A review of the penalties prescribed for food safety violations has become necessary to determine whether they are stringent enough to deter those indulging in food adulteration and fraud to make substantial profits while exposing consumers to health risks. Combining enforcement with consumer awareness is the urgent need of the hour.