Restaurants across Gurgaon have been undergoing physical inspections, a move coming after its decision to ban analogue dairy dishes from its platform.
Food delivery platforms are sending representatives to partner eateries to verify that kitchens are not using synthetic substitutes, and tightening vendor audits and scrutinising supply chains, as reported by The Indian Express.
At Gurgaon’s Sector 56, staff at Harish Bakery confirmed that inspection teams arrived last week. “We use natural paneer, so we didn’t face any issue,” a personnel from the management said, as reported by the Indian Express.
Further, in Sector 23, Pramod Kumar, the manager at Grills reportedly said their daily operations were unaffected as they cook exclusively with standard dairy.
Analogue paneer came into notice after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently banned it due to mislabelling and health concerns. The ban was adopted in states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
FSSAI has been focusing on making active efforts to crack down on food adulteration in the selling of dairy products. The Haryana government has also banned analogue paneer for one year.
As per the safety norms, any product made by wholly or partially replacing milk fat or milk solids with vegetable oil, vegetable fat, or other non-dairy components is classified as analogue or non-dairy paneer.
FSSAI is set to step up enforcement, hold e-commerce platforms responsible for products sold via their platforms and propose stricter action against high-fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods near schools, its CEO Rajit Punhani stated.
FSSAI will begin checks on e-commerce platforms from next month. Platforms will have to carry out due diligence and ensure that products listed on them comply with food safety regulations.
The Supreme Court had pressed the FSSAI on why it has failed to act on front-of-pack warning labels for packaged food, calling the matter one of “national interest” tied to the health of the country’s children.