Zomato bans analogue paneer. But how will they know who's cheating?

Zomato has announced a zero-tolerance policy on dishes made with analogue dairy products. However, the internet has some questions that are worth giving a thought over.The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of analogue paneer and other dairy substitutes being used in food across India. (Photo: Generative AI)Zomato made a declaration and everyone’s been talking about it. The food delivery platform announced on Monday a zero-tolerance policy against the sale of dishes made with analogue dairy products, saying restaurants found violating the policy could be removed from the platform. The policy takes effect immediately.Zomato said dishes that restaurant partners have already declared as containing analogue dairy have been delisted from the platform. Sounds reassuring. Except, there is one rather obvious question: what if a restaurant simply doesn't declare it?That is exactly what the internet wants to know.‘Koi kyu batayega analogue paneer hai?’The announcement comes amid growing scrutiny of analogue paneer and other dairy substitutes being used in food across India. Several states, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, have banned the production, storage, distribution and sale of fake paneer. Zomato's policy appears straightforward: if a restaurant identifies a dish as containing analogue dairy, that dish is removed from the platform. But social media users aren't quite convinced that self-declaration is enough.“My only one question: koi kyu batayega analogue paneer hai (why will anybody declare if it has analogue paneer). Isn't that the whole point - to quietly replace real paneer with fake paneer?” X user Anushka wrote.And, well, that is the question.If a restaurant is already passing off analogue paneer as regular paneer, why would it voluntarily tell the platform that it is using an analogue product?‘How will Zomato verify it?’Another user, Nalini Unagar, raised a similar concern in a lengthy post addressed to Zomato. “Whenever someone complains about the food, you have the same excuse: ‘We have no control over it. The food is prepared by the restaurant and the price is set by the restaurant,’” she wrote.She then questioned how the platform would establish whether a dish such as paneer tikka masala is actually made with real paneer. “If a restaurant is using analogue paneer or something else, who will verify it?” she asked.Unagar also claimed that she had been waiting for a response to a food complaint made on August 15, adding that she had been directed to contact Zomato by email.Her larger question was simple: what mechanism will Zomato use to verify what is actually on the plate? And honestly, that is exactly what everyone’s been asking.The problem, however, is that consumers cannot be expected to play paneer police either. The viral iodine test, which has prompted people to test paneer at restaurants and roadside stalls, can only detect starch and cannot establish whether paneer is fake or adulterated. Food scientists have pointed out that starch can enter a dish through other ingredients and that some adulterants will not show up in the test at all.Analogue paneer, meanwhile, is a substitute for traditional paneer in which milk constituents are partly or fully replaced with non-dairy ingredients. Some analogue versions use cheaper vegetable oils in place of milk fat, making them different from traditional dairy paneer.With Zomato now promising zero tolerance for such products, the obvious question is how the platform will ensure restaurants are actually complying with the policy, rather than simply declaring that they do. India Today has reached out to Zomato to understand what checks or verification mechanisms it has in place to identify restaurants using analogue dairy. We are yet to receive a response. This copy will be updated once we hear back.- EndsPublished By: Tiasa Bhowal Published On: Sep 1, 2026 16:44 IST