Parmigiano-Reggiano makers are putting edible microchips the size of a grain of sand into their 90-pound cheese wheels to combat counterfeiters::Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano makers are using microchips to verify the authenticity of their products and thwart scammers.
I wonder how close they are to realm parmesan, those counterfeited cheeses.
Parmigiano Reggiano is truly something special.
There exist (cheaper) cheeses made in a similar style, but no serious manufacturer will call it Parmigiano Reggiano, or even Parmesan. Usually have their own brand.
Or you can make your own https://youtu.be/s1k1w7SnNEY
Worth noting that they use microchips because blind taste tests, chemical analysis, and any other comparison demonstrates that copies are indistinguishable - if you buy prestige food products you’re almost certainly just wasting money
Not necessarily. The insane level of protection applied by the original is the motivation to produce such good copies. Otherwise the copies would be just a generic “hard cheese”.
DOP/AOP regulations imo produce more benefit than harm, even by motivating copycats
I think the problem is more that they don’t want to have to do those things on every single wheel, the microchips make identification easier. Also worth noting that many things can be physically and/or chemically identical but still have different value due to the way it was produced, some things that come to mind are power and hydrogen. They can both be produced in many ways, with some in more environmentally friendly ways than others, and the consumer may care about that.