Paneer economics : Cheap substitutes, costly deception
The Tribune Editorial: Passing off an analogue as paneer deprives people of choice and potentially of the nutritional value they expect from a dairy product.
Updated At : 07:12 AM Sep 11, 2026 IST
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THE synthetic paneer trail in Delhi is more than another story of food adulteration. It exposes a larger weakness in India's food-safety system: the widening gap between what a product costs, what it is made of and what consumers are told they are buying. There is a powerful economic reason for the spread of analogue paneer. Made with non-dairy ingredients such as vegetable fats, starches, plant proteins and additives, it can be substantially cheaper than genuine milk paneer. Industry estimates suggest the price difference can approach 40-50%. When restaurants, caterers and other food businesses operate on tight margins, the incentive to substitute an expensive ingredient with a cheaper one is obvious.
