Zomato is facing the heat over the sales of the 'analogue paneer' to restaurants through its B2B business service, Hyperpure. Recently, a Gurugram-based man shared a picture of Zomato's website with a fake paneer which triggered criticism on social media.
In his post, Bahl said, "India loves paneer dishes and restaurants sell fake paneer made with vegetable oils without any disclaimer. They made you believe that you are eating healthy food by eating a variety of paneer dishes over junk food. This is being sold on website of Zomato for restaurants."
Although, it was clearly mentioned that it was 'analogue paneer' what led to criticism were its product details which mentioned, “fit for tikka and gravy paneer dishes” Zomato Hyperpure has, since then, been facing criticism for encouraging adulteration in food and impacting health.
Notably, analogue paneer is a substitute for traditional paneer that is made using non-dairy ingredients as they are comparatively cheaper. While real paneer is made from fresh milk curdled with lemon juice, analogue paneer lacks dairy fat and contains vegetable fats and starches.
The restaurants often use the analogue paneer as it is cheaper. According to the viral post, the price of analogue paneer on Zomato was Rs 210 per kg while real paneer is around Rs 450 per kg.
