Maharashtra has banned the production and sale of analogue paneer for a year. The order also bars restaurants, caterers and cloud kitchens from preparing, using and serving analogue paneer. Analogue paneer is a non-dairy or a partially synthetic substitute for paneer. In absence of the standards, analogue paneer was “essentially a sub-standard product” that “only increases deliberate adulteration”, it added. Analogue paneer provides “no nutritional benefits particularly to vegetarians who depend on paneer as a source of protein, and that the choice between analogue and genuine paneer cannot be left to the discretion of the consumer” given the low awareness levels about what it contains, the committee was quoted as having recorded.