Milk, dairy products take centre stage as counterfeiting soars in India

A majority of counterfeiting cases are reported in the dairy and beauty categories—segments where safety concerns and brand equity are especially sensitive, the report said.

“Small-scale producers and local vendors often lack the capital or technical expertise to implement advanced tracking systems,” said Swapnil Bharadwaj, a quality and regulatory affairs expert on the sidelines of the TAF Connect Conference held by the Authentication Solution Providers' Association (Aspa).

High-volume FMCG staples like water, salt, flour, sugar, toothpaste, soap, and shampoo have the most fakes. Among higher-margin products, the most counterfeited items are milk, mustard oil, ghee, premium tea, and detergents, the report added. Counterfeit FMCG products are perceived to be about 19% cheaper than genuine products and are sold mostly (43%) from multi-brand retail outlets, per the report.

This month, Rajasthan's Food Safety Department seized and destroyed approximately 1.5 lakh kg of expired Amul-branded non-dairy products after discovering they had expired. The accused purchased products near expiry, tampered with the dates and sold them.

These incidents happen despite brands like Amul opting for duplication-proof packaging for their products. Similarly, the UP food department destroyed 1,400 kg of khoya (milk solids) after a raid in Jhansi ahead of the Holi festival.

Fighting the fake flood

While policy gaps are well known, dairy brand manufacturers also find it difficult to counter the rising tide of fake and adulterated products, and incidents such as the one above. Industry experts say the large presence of unorganised players, a complex supply chain, and the high volume of goods sold daily make it difficult to implement anti-adulteration and anti-counterfeiting measures in India.

“Adulteration in milk generally does not originate at the farm level,” said Shashi Kumar, founder & CEO, Akshayakalpa Organic, an organic dairy startup. Instead, it happens later, when middlemen collect milk from different places before it finally reaches the factories or a client’s home.

Additionally, the fragmented nature of the Indian food industry makes it difficult to implement anti-counterfeiting and anti-adulteration measures. When many sellers ignore the rules, it becomes impossible to track if the product is still safe, quality expert Bharadwaj said.

“Implementing sophisticated anti-counterfeiting measures—like DNA barcoding, blockchain-enabled QR codes, or forensic markers—adds a per-unit cost,” he said. This makes things difficult in a high-volume, low-margin business like food.

The scale of the problem is amplified by the structure: over 75% of India’s food processing industry remains informal, dominated by small, unorganised units, according to a January 2025 Brickwork Ratings report. Anupama B. Patil, assistant commissioner (Food), FDA Maharashtra, acknowledged the lack of trained personnel and testing facilities to implement wider checks at the conference.

Milk adulteration remains a persistent risk despite India being the world’s largest producer. In early March, a contamination incident in Andhra Pradesh led to at least 16 deaths after milk was tainted with ethylene glycol, a toxic coolant chemical that leaked from a dairy facility freezer.

Stricter oversight to solve the muddle

Concerns have extended to branded supply chains. In February, the testing platform Trustified alleged that Amul’s Taaza and Gold milk contained coliform bacteria far exceeding FSSAI limits, as well as E. coli and mould. Amul has disputed the findings, attributing them to potential cold-chain lapses at the retail level.

Regulators are tightening oversight.

The regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, mandated licences for milk vendors, exempting registered dairy cooperatives from the 11 March regulation update. An enforcement drive requiring bi-monthly progress reports from local authorities was conducted in tandem.

Monitoring the supply chain will be key to preventing counterfeits from entering the market. “Counterfeits enter the market through the long supply chain,” said Ankit Gupta, Aspa president. “Supply chain is managed by logistics players and their sub-contractors, where it becomes more difficult to ensure counterfeits don't enter,” he added. Players like Akshayakalpa follow “a direct-from-farmer procurement model that removes intermediaries” and work closely with farmers to ensure high standards, Akshayakalpa's Kumar added.

The pharmaceutical sector offers a working template to counter this challenge.

In 2023, the government mandated QR codes for the top 300 drug brands, including Calpol, Gelusil, and Dolo 650, as part of a track-and-trace system to curb counterfeits. The success of this model has since driven plans to expand QR code requirements to vaccines, antimicrobials, anticancer drugs, and narcotics.