Fake paneer or false alarm? The perils of social media food tests

Fuelled by its ease of execution and dramatic visual results, the iodine test for starch in paneer has become a popular tool for social media influencers and food vloggers. Not just paneer, readily shared experiments that aim to expose potential adulteration are a rage, though their simplistic nature often overlooks the nuances of food science, leading to concerns about oversimplified interpretations and potentially misleading conclusions regarding paneer quality.


The viral paneer purity quest

Fine-dine paneer test
Sarthak Sachdeva’s iodine test turned paneer black at a celebrity owned restaurant in Mumbai, leading to ‘fake’ paneer claims, while other celebrity restaurants passed.
The reactions: The restaurant explained the starch reaction was from soy ingredients; chef Vikas Khanna criticised the test’s potential to spread misinformation, sparking debates about the test’s reliability.

Fast-food paneer test
Apple Tiwari’s iodine tests on paneer dishes from Domino’s, McDonald’s, and Burger King in Delhi showed blackening, which she alleged indicated adulteration.
The reactions: McD refuted the claim, citing dairy-based paneer, coating-related starch reactions.
Some netizens backed Tiwari, others criticised her for testing coated, fried paneer.

Paneer pakoda test
Nikhil Saini’s iodine test on paneer from a street vendor’s bread pakoda turned it black, indicating starch compared to a ‘real’ sample.
The reaction: The viral video raised concerns, but Dr Kiran Soni noted coatings or additives could cause false positives in tests. The controversy contined to rage online for weeks.


Milk & honey: Social media food lab in action

Milk and milk products
The detergent test, indicated by excessive lather upon shaking with water, and the water dilution test, where diluted milk flows quickly without a white trail on a slanted surface for flagging off milk adulteration. A urea test involves a colour change to red after adding soybean or toor dal powder to boiled milk. This led to allegations of detergent presence and suspected water dilution in certain packaged brands and other sources.
Expert perspective: They lack the scientific ri gour of laboratory analysis and may yield false positives due to natural milk properties.

Honey
The burn test observes whether a honey-soaked cotton wick burns cleanly (pure) or crackles/fails to burn (adulterated). The water test examines how honey behaves when dropped into water, with pure honey settling and adulterated honey dispersing rapidly.
Expert perspective: These tests can detect significant sugar syrup adulteration, but unable to identify other common adulterants like high-fructose corn syrup.


‘It’s a disservice to the hardworking chefs’
Chef Gaggan Anand dimisses the social media food tests, “The so-called ‘Influencers,’ armed with their cameras and half-baked knowledge, descend upon restaurants, more concerned with creating a sensation than understanding the heart of the food. They point fingers and scream ‘fake’ for likes, without a clue about the nuances of ingredients or culinary processes. It’s a disservice to the hardworking chefs and a dumbing down of the entire dining experience. Influencers, equipped with superficial knowledge and cameras, invade restaurants and act as a threat to culinary concepts.”