Chandigarh, February 17 : Earlier in February, Nikhil Saini performed a ‘quality check’ on the paneer piece stuffed inside a bread pakora he bought from a street food vendor for ₹25. An Instagram video of the content creator’s experiment went viral, garnering 20.7 million views, so far. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Kiran Soni, head of the Department of Nutrition and Health, Yatharth Hospital Greater Noida, reacted to the video and said that ‘adulterated paneer is a very common finding’.
Vlogger tests paneer in bread pakora
Nikhil’s video has sparked curiosity and concern about the authenticity of paneer in bread pakoras sold by street food vendors. Using an iodine tincture test, he aimed to determine whether the paneer used was genuine or adulterated with starch-based substitutes.
Adulterated street food can pose serious health risks to consumers, especially innocent people who may not be aware of the potential dangers. Before we look at what Dr Kiran Soni has to say, let’s find out what Nikhil actually showed in his recent video.
Here’s what actually happened
In the clip titled ‘bread pakora quality check’, Nikhil rinses the paneer stuffed inside the bread pakora with lukewarm water before testing it with an iodine tincture. The moment he applies the solution, black patches appear on the paneer, raising questions about its authenticity. Nikhil repeats the test on another sample, which he says is ‘real paneer’ and unlike the first paneer piece taken from the pakora, this one shows no change in colour.
“Look at this, notice the difference. The real paneer hasn’t changed colour at all, while the other one has turned completely black,” he said in the video. In his caption, Nikhil wrote in Hindi, “Those who eat bread pakora outside should be careful…”
Summary: A claim suggests street food paneer fails the iodine test, turning black. Experts clarify that the test may be misleading, urging verified quality checks.