New Delhi: A tweet by YouTuber Nalini Unagar questioning the FSSAI has resulted in a Delhi Police FIR against her. Unagar had flagged the widespread sale of fake paneer and milk while targeting the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s role as the watchdog.
“Fake milk, paneer, vegetables, and oil are sold openly in the market,” the now-deleted tweet read. “The entire FSSAI department should be thrown out because it feels like they don’t even exist in India. This is not a personal attack but the anger of 140 crore Indians who are being fed fake food every day.”
The case, filed on the complaint of a representative of FSSAI, has been registered under Sections 316(4) and 3(5) of the BNS and Section 72A of the IT Act, accusing the influencer and others of criminal breach of trust and misuse of personal data under the IT Act.
According to Rohit Rajbir Singh, DCP (Central), the complaint alleges the “involvement of certain influencers and unknown persons” in the unauthorised circulation of FSSAI documents on social media. It has also been alleged that some documents may have been tampered with.
“The authenticity of the documents and role of all involved is being examined,” the DCP said in a statement.
Unagar, however, denied having any knowledge of the alleged circulation of FSSAI documents.
On Thursday, Unagar wrote another post on X defending her position and questioning the Delhi Police FIR against her over posts criticising FSSAI.
“Delhi Police have filed an FIR against me. I had written about an FSSAI issue. I have already taken down those posts and am also removing many others. I already have too many things going on in my life. In the future, you may see me silent. I cannot handle this level of stress anymore,” she wrote.
While some users see Unagar’s situation as an example of a ‘chilling effect’ on criticism, others have reacted sarcastically, suggesting the FIR has ironically brought her ‘fame.’
An X account replied to Unagar’s post with the caption “famous” and two laughing emojis, along with two images of an official Delhi Police document.
Delhi Police has requested X to provide account details of Unagar and other such X users who have allegedly defamed the FSSAI and circulated its official documents.
“I’ve always raised issues about fake and adulterated products being sold in the market, and yet they continue to be openly available. I regularly tag the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and raise concerns about food safety, but no action is taken. This time, I even tagged the CEO and questioned his silence—we need action across India. These problems have existed for years with no visible results. I may have been a bit harsh, but for this, I received an FIR,” Unagar told ThePrint.
‘FSSAI is useless’
Nalini began her journey in 2021 with her YouTube channel, Nalini’s Kitchen Recipe. She spent over Rs 8 lakh making more than 250 cooking videos, but even after three years, she had only around 2000 subscribers and no earnings.
In 2024, she quit YouTube and decided to move to X, where her outspoken views on social issues and consumer problems quickly gained her a large following of nearly 2 lakh.
Her past tweets repeatedly expressed strong distrust in the food regulator. In March, she wrote, “FSSAI is useless, and I seriously can’t trust them anymore.”
Last month, Nalini shared a video on X preparing homemade potato wafers by slicing and sun-drying 10 kg of potatoes to avoid the chemical-induced wafers in the market.
On the government’s decision to make FSSAI licences permanent, she wrote, “Good idea on paper… But let’s be honest. In a country where food adulteration is already common, making licences permanent without strong checks sounds risky. Who will ensure quality after 5 or 10 years? That’s the real question.”
She often backed her concerns with personal examples. In January, she shared on X that she doesn’t fully trust packaged dairy, which is why her family sources fresh milk directly and makes butter and ghee at home.
Her posts also revisited older controversies, including the 2015 one involving Maggi, where she criticised Nestle over past findings related to lead levels and labelling.
This consistent mix of personal experiences and strong criticism of the system eventually led to legal action, culminating in an FIR against her.
Food safety in India
After the FIR, Unagar took down the tweet immediately. She said that family responsibilities and the need to avoid legal trouble influenced her decision to remove the post.
“I also received an email from X stating, ‘We want you to have an opportunity to take action to protect your interests. This may include seeking legal counsel and challenging the request in court, contacting relevant civil society organisations, voluntarily deleting the content if applicable, or finding some other resolution’,” she said.
Unagar said she had also proposed practical solutions for food safety in India on X, but that was not noticed. She has asked FSSAI to adopt a simple, clear labelling system like Singapore’s Nutri-Grade. The system uses letter grades — A for the healthiest choices, down to D for foods high in sugar or saturated fat — so that can instantly see a product’s nutritional quality.
Unagar pointed out that current packaging and celebrity endorsements often mislead buyers, with products like “fresh juice” hiding high sugar content. She highlighted a Coca-Cola can with Singapore’s D-grade label as an example, showing how the system clearly signals poor nutrition despite the product’s popularity.
Many users supported her idea, saying it could help identify fake paneer, heavily processed snacks, and other unhealthy foods common in India.
While FSSAI has introduced ‘high-in’ warnings and a star-rating system since 2022, X users argue that these measures are neither as simple nor as effective as the A-to-D Nutri-Grade approach.
Unagar said she has recently started a food brand but chose not to reveal its name to avoid disclosing her exact location. She highlighted issues around licensing and middlemen.
“I applied for the license online. It costs only Rs 100 to Rs 200, but my application was rejected due to some mistakes. Then I asked an agent to handle it. He quoted Rs 3,000 and said he would take care of everything. I refused and applied myself, and the license was approved without any extra cost,” she said.
Tackling ‘complex challenges’
The former CEO of FSSAI, Pawan Aggarwal, reflected on the challenges of addressing food safety issues in India and the role of influencers in shaping public perception. He acknowledged that while content creators can raise awareness, sometimes their claims go too far.
He explained that in his time, there were instances where exaggerated claims about food adulteration caused public alarm.
“There was a press conference in Chandigarh. A government officer said he has received reports that 85% of India’s milk is adulterated. So this was a press conference. Journalists picked this up. And when I asked him which report he was talking about, he said he also read this in a newspaper,” said Aggarwal.
He also emphasised the difficulty in tracking adulterated foods, especially when sold in loose form. Packaged food allows traceability, but open items like paneer or milk sold in local markets make it almost impossible to pinpoint contamination .
“Similar incidents had happened during my term, but I didn’t go so far as to file an FIR,” he said.
Still, he said, there should be some accountability, both from companies and influencers. He added that the challenges in the food sector are complex and ongoing and cannot be tackled all at once.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)