Zomato has banned restaurants on its platform from listing dishes containing analogue dairy products, effective immediately. The food delivery platform has warned that restaurants failing to comply with this policy will be delisted. It has already removed dishes declared by restaurants as containing analogue dairy, urging them to switch to natural dairy or remove such items from their menus, according to medianama.com.
The policy requires restaurants to review product labels and ingredient declarations from their suppliers to verify the ingredients used. Zomato has instructed restaurants to either replace analogue dairy with natural dairy products or remove the affected dishes if an immediate switch is not possible. The platform’s enforcement follows the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) April directive on analogue dairy labelling and use, which prohibits selling cheese analogue as paneer and mandates accurate product naming.
This move aligns with increasing regulatory scrutiny on analogue dairy products in India’s food service sector. The FSSAI has also asked food businesses to train procurement teams and chefs to avoid using cheese analogues as paneer and to monitor raw materials closely. Zomato’s policy reflects growing consumer demand for transparency and natural ingredients, setting a precedent for other food delivery platforms and restaurants to follow in ensuring compliance with food safety norms.
Zomato’s enforcement of this policy will continue with delisting actions against non-compliant restaurants, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to food authenticity. The FSSAI’s public notice on analogue dairy labelling was issued on April 29, marking a regulatory milestone that Zomato is now operationalizing across its listings.