Indian state food safety bans

In August 2026 Indian state food regulators intensified a coordinated crackdown on unhealthy and misleading food products. Karnataka’s Food Safety and Drug Administration maintains its ban on the sale, distribution, advertising and promotion of high‑fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) foods within school campuses and a 50‑metre perimeter, backed by stricter labelling, vigilance and awareness campaigns.

Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration has formalised its earlier order through a gazette notification signed by Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, prohibiting the manufacture, processing, storage, transport, distribution and sale of non‑dairy analogue paneer statewide for twelve months, effective 30 July. The ban follows a year‑long surveillance drive that found 35.4 % of 308 paneer samples sub‑standard or unsafe, with vegetable oils and other non‑milk fats used as substitutes. Penalties have been heightened: up to six months imprisonment and a ₹1 lakh fine for violations, rising to life imprisonment and a minimum ₹10 lakh fine if consumption leads to death. BJP MLA Vikram Pachpute praised the measure, noting its similarity to a recent analogue‑paneer restriction in Chhattisgarh.

Enforcement actions, including a large seizure of over 1,400 kg of suspected fake paneer in Pune, continue under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and related Supreme Court directives, with surprise inspections, product seizures and heavy fines now routine.