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.

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    This is like that Brooklyn 99 episode where everyone is putting microchips in Terry’s yogurt

  • @[email protected]
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    42 years ago

    I wonder how close they are to realm parmesan, those counterfeited cheeses.

    Parmigiano Reggiano is truly something special.

      • @[email protected]
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        42 years ago

        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

        • @[email protected]
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          32 years ago

          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

        • @[email protected]
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          32 years ago

          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.

      • Echo Dot
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        2 years ago

        I know a bloke who’ll just squash a load of cheddar together for you for about 40 bucks. We call him big cheese.

  • Obinice
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    492 years ago

    Not really putting them “into” their cheese, just the labels that bind with their outer casing of the cheese wheel. Still neat.

    They are being placed on the casein label, a food-safe label commonly used in cheese production, which is placed on the cheese wheel.

    • Marxism-Fennekinism
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      2 years ago

      Except it is very common to boil cheese rind for broth. And prolonged exposure high temperatures tend to break down pollutants into even more reactive forms as well as draw them out into solution. Worse if it’s in like a commercial steam oven or pressure cooker that can get much higher than 100 C, you know, like many professional restaurants make a point of using.

      I doubt it will be that easy to identify and scrape off, because that would defeat the point, probably hidden deep within the layers. It says it can’t be read remotely so very unlikely it’s just an off the shelf RFID sticker you can easily see and peel off. I also doubt a lot of people will know it’s there and that it needs to be removed in the first place, or they’ll take their word for it that it’s edible even though they are absolutely in no position to make that claim and have definitely not done the rigorous medical research/testing to actually justify a claim like that.

  • @[email protected]
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    22 years ago

    So to combat fake cheese, real cheese makers change their cheese and make them crunchier? 🤔

  • @[email protected]
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    202 years ago

    TIL there’s a global market in fake cheese. Which is to say, real cheese that someone slapped a fancier label on.

    I’m sure all the steps we took to reach this point were logical ones, but we still find ourselves in a very strange place.

    • @[email protected]
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      72 years ago

      Yeah it’s like how the Champaign region has brutalised it’s soil with over production and now produces substandard grapes compared to other regions but due to established customs can charge the most.

      Cheese makes even less sense as the original taste was down to the quality of the dairy and the process of making it - both of which have changed totally and are easily replicatable, though fake cheese is potentially dangerous if made unlicenced because God knows what corners they could cut - I don’t want to eat something full of reminant cleaning products and deadly pathogens.

      Really then avoiding over-priced prestige products is the best choice economically, medically, and morally (I’ll skip the essay on that but the main point is it’s funding greed and establishing a classist normal which is something we should be moving away from).

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      Legally it’s only cheese if it comes from the “Formaggi” region in Italy. Otherwise it has to be called “bad milk product”.

    • MeanEYE
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      52 years ago

      Considering they charge arm an a leg for the damn thing no wonder. Also wait until you find out there are fake eggs mass produced in China. That will mind-stop you.

  • Sibbo
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    152 years ago

    Are we not all chipped anyways through the civic vaccine? /s

  • @[email protected]
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    562 years ago

    its funny that some ppl are paranoid that bill gates is trying to microchip them with a vaccine when they probably already have been by the fucking itailians

  • @[email protected]
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    2702 years ago

    For fucks sake… This is literally about an RFID sticker that is put on the outside of whole cheese wheels.

    So unless you buy whole 40kg wheel and then eat it with the rind… you are not eating any.

    And also fuck that article for even mentioning that.

      • AstralWeekends
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        42 years ago

        If your soup or sauce sparks a little bit next time, you’ll know, lol.

        • @[email protected]
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          32 years ago

          https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=parmesan+rind+uses&ia=web

          From the top result (Treehugger):

          1. Throw them into tomato sauce when cooking. They’ll impart some flavor. Pull them out and discard when the sauce is done cooking.
          2. Place them in a jar, pour olive oil over them (perhaps add some garlic cloves, too – but if you add garlic, make sure to keep the oil refrigerated) and make parmesan-infused olive oil. Great for dipping bread into.
          3. Throw them into bean soups or minestrone. Discard the rinds before serving.
          4. Throw them into the pot when you’re making stock.
          5. Add to stew. Remove rinds before serving.
          6. Use them to flavor steamed artichokes. Add some chicken broth, onion and lemon juice and a cheese rind or two, and it’s a delicious broth!
          7. Put a rind in the pot when you’re cooking risotto or other rice. Remove the rind before serving.
          8. Make a parmesan broth for cheese-filled pastas like ravioli. You can try the Bitchincamero’s recipe for ricotta & pea ravioli in parmesan broth or just use the recipe for inspiration for your own pasta in Parmesan broth.
          9. Try The Novice Chef’s Panera-inspired recipe for tomato, cheese and bread Soup.
          10. If the rind is pure cheese (with no waxy coating), you can grill the rind until it becomes soft and chewy, put it on a piece of crusty bread, and eat.
      • @[email protected]
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        142 years ago

        lol right? I would never lol, that would be like, too much? Would it be too much? Honestly we may never know

    • @[email protected]
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      2 years ago

      That makes it sound like the “edible” aspect of this is just an anti idiot feature. *Or just “printed” on it.

      Either way, pointless article.

      • @[email protected]
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        212 years ago

        Alex Jones will yell about the headline and say Soros is microchipping food and if you eat cheese the 5g vaccine will do a false flag and turn the frogs even gayer.

        • @[email protected]
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          162 years ago

          I mean the top comment here didn’t even read the article to find out there’s no risk of them ingesting it unless it’s done on purpose after they purchase the entire wheel, they just read the headline and implied what it suggested without actually learning the full truth.

          Alex Jones makes money on being a walking, talking “clickbait headline”. And people are so addicted to the dopamine they get from feeling “smarter” than other people (after being dumb all their lives because the American school system has been designed to fail them) that they huff his words like a drug.

          Smug superiority is addictive.

          • utopianrevolt
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            32 years ago

            You’re completely right, but it’s also highlighted when people on the internet discuss things they know nothing about but decide to become very sarcastic against “the other side.”

            smug superiority indeed. many examples in this very thread.

      • @[email protected]
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        482 years ago

        I believe regulations require that everything you put in or on food is technically editable. Like the paper stickers on bread or produce. They are disgusting, but if you or your child accidentally eats them, they are fine.

            • Draconic NEO
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              12 years ago

              You can probably get away with it more than once, after all there was that one person who was addicted to eating plastic. I will say it definitely isn’t good for you to do it, so I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.

    • @[email protected]
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      32 years ago

      My networth would increase if you value the cheese-turned-fat at parmigiano market value.

    • @[email protected]
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      22 years ago

      So if you eat the chip, does it mean you officially become a wheel of cheese?

      Depends if you have been a real or a fake person before… ;-)

    • @[email protected]
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      62 years ago

      If you start eating packaging like stickers glued to the rind of cheese, I think you can legally be considered a kind of human-goat hybrid.