Food-delivery platform removes dishes declared to contain analogue dairy and warns non-compliant restaurants of delisting
New Delhi: Food-delivery platform Zomato has introduced a new policy restricting the listing of dishes containing analogue dairy products, including analogue paneer, on its platform.
With immediate effect, dishes that restaurant partners have declared as containing analogue dairy have been removed from Zomato, the company said in a statement.
Restaurants have been asked to take corrective measures, including switching to natural dairy products and removing dishes containing analogue dairy from their menus where an immediate transition is not possible.
Restaurants asked to verify ingredients
Under the new policy, Zomato has also asked restaurant partners to review product labels and ingredient declarations provided by suppliers.
The objective is to ensure that ingredients used in food preparation are properly verified and that dishes listed on the platform accurately represent what is being served to consumers.
Restaurants that fail to comply with the policy may face delisting from the platform, Zomato said.
Aditya Mangla, CEO of Zomato, said the policy was intended to strengthen consumer protection and transparency in food listings.
“At Zomato, our core mission is better food for more people, and that means safeguarding customer health and upholding clear standards for what’s listed and served by our restaurant partners,” Mangla said.
What is analogue paneer?
Analogue dairy products are products in which some or all milk constituents are replaced with ingredients that are not derived from milk.
Analogue paneer, for example, may use combinations of vegetable oils or fats, starches, plant proteins, emulsifiers and other permitted ingredients in place of some dairy components.
Such products are different from conventional paneer, which is a milk-derived dairy product.
The important issue is therefore not simply whether an analogue product exists, but how it is labelled and represented to consumers.
FSSAI steps up scrutiny
The issue has received increased regulatory attention in recent months.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has clarified that analogue products can be marketed when they are appropriately labelled. However, representing a cheese analogue as “paneer”, or listing a dish made using an analogue product as paneer, can violate India’s food-safety and labelling requirements.
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This distinction is particularly important for restaurants and food-delivery platforms because consumers may reasonably expect an item described as paneer to contain a genuine milk-based product.
Maharashtra takes separate action
Maharashtra subsequently announced a one-year ban on the manufacture and sale of artificial or analogue paneer, citing public-health concerns.
The state’s enforcement campaign between April 2025 and March 2026 analysed 308 samples. According to the state, 109 samples, or 35.4%, failed to meet prescribed standards.
Of these, 79 were classified as sub-standard and 30 as unsafe.
Why Zomato’s move matters for the dairy industry
Zomato’s decision extends the analogue-dairy debate beyond manufacturers and regulators to the restaurant and food-delivery ecosystem.
For restaurants, the policy could mean greater scrutiny of the ingredients supplied by vendors, particularly in high-volume dishes such as:
Paneer tikka | Paneer butter masala | Kadhai paneer | Paneer rolls | Sandwiches | Pizzas | Other prepared foods
The requirement to verify supplier labels and ingredient declarations could also increase pressure on food-service businesses to maintain better ingredient traceability and documentation.
For dairy manufacturers, the move could strengthen demand for genuine milk-based paneer and other dairy ingredients in the organised food-service market.
Labelling is at the centre of the issue
The broader regulatory principle is straightforward:
If a product is not dairy paneer, it should not be presented to consumers as dairy paneer.
Analogue dairy products may have legitimate applications when correctly formulated and labelled. The concern arises when consumers are not clearly informed that the product differs from the conventional dairy product they believe they are purchasing.
Zomato’s policy therefore places greater responsibility on restaurants to know what they are buying, verify supplier declarations and accurately describe the food sold through the platform.
The development also highlights a wider trend in India’s food industry: ingredient transparency, traceability and accurate product claims are becoming increasingly important across the farm-to-consumer value chain.
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