Manufactured & Traditional Dairy Products

Permitted food additives and preservatives in paneer:

• Sodium acetate functions as a buffering salt or seasoning and is not an approved preservative for paneer.
• Potassium sorbate (and sorbic acid salts) is legally permitted under FSSAI regulations as an antimycotic preservative in packaged paneer up to a maximum level of $2000\text{ ppm}$ ($2000\text{ mg/kg}$ or $0.2\%$) to inhibit mold and yeast spoilage.
• Potassium acetate is not an authorized chemical preservative for paneer.
• Nisin is an approved antimicrobial peptide for processed cheese and canned foods, but sorbates are specifically prescribed for paneer preservation.

Classification criteria of traditional Sandesh varieties:

• Colour and appearance vary with caramelisation and flavoring but do not define the primary grade system.
• Sandesh is classified into varieties based on body and consistency: Narampak is the soft-grade variety prepared by cooking chhana with sugar at $75^\circ\text{C}$ with higher moisture and tender consistency; Karapak is the hard-grade variety cooked at $85^\circ\text{C}$ with higher sugar content yielding a firm, compact, and brittle consistency.
• Overall quality is a composite hedonic sensory grade, not the textural class.
• Springiness is a characteristic textural attribute of spongy rasogolla rather than sandesh grades.

Mechanics of paneer pressing and block formation:

• Assertion (A) is true because after whey drainage, paneer curd must be hooped and pressed under pressure (around $2\text{--}3\text{ kg/cm}^2$) while still hot ($\gt 70^\circ\text{C}$).
• Reason (R) is true because at elevated temperatures, milk fat remains in a completely molten state and the casein network possesses maximum deformability and plasticity, permitting individual curd grains to meld and fuse cohesively into a smooth, sliceable, uniform block without shattering.
• If allowed to cool before pressing, fat crystallizes, casein loses plasticity, and the resulting paneer crumbles and fails to form a solid block; hence Reason (R) is the exact scientific explanation of Assertion (A).
• Thus, Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).