Italy cracks down on $2 billion fake market with (micro)chips in its cheese

A microchip inserted into a QR code label is seen on a Parmesan cheese wheel at 4 Madonne Caseificio in Modena, Italy(Picture: Reuters)

The conspiracy theorists were almost right. They thought Big Pharma was using microchips to track us. But it was Big Parma.

Yes, producers of the world-famous Parmigiano Reggiano cheese are fighting fakes with the help of microchips.

Parmigiano Reggiano is a hard, granular cheese made in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. It is one of the most expensive cheeses in the world – and one of the most counterfeited, costing the industry an estimated $2 billion.

Fakes are often made with cheaper ingredients and do not meet the same quality standards as the real thing. This can pose a health risk to consumers, as well as an economic loss to the producers of genuine Parmigiano Reggiano.

To combat the counterfeiting, the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is testing a new technology that uses microchips to track the cheese from the factory to people’s homes.

Thanks to these chips, the wheels of cheese can be traced with a code that includes data on the place, month, and year of production.

The traceable digital chip is created in collaboration with Kaasmerk Matec, a leading cheesemark producer, and p-Chip Corporation.

These p-chips are smaller than a grain of salt and planted inside 2D codes, QR codes or data-matrix codes that will be part of a casein label, commonly used to identify food and cheese.

Casein labels with the p-chips use blockchain technology to create a digital copy of real things. It can be scanned to track the cheese and where it comes from.

About 100,000 digital chips were embedded in Parmigiano Reggiano parmesan cheese wheels last year. Since its success, the Parmigiano Consortium has mentioned they might adopt the technology for all the cheese they make in the future.

The microchip contains a unique code that can be scanned to verify the authenticity of the cheese. It also contains information about the cheese’s production, such as the date, location, and producer.

Parmigiano Reggiano is one of Italy’s most renowned food products and makes up a billion-dollar industry. In 2022, sales of the cheese reached an estimated $3.1 billion.

The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium estimates the copycat market is worth around $2 billion, prompting the need for digital cheese verification.

By implanting chips, the brand hopes to suppress counterfeiting and protect the reputation of its parmesan cheese wheels.

How can you spot fake parmesan?

Italians take their cheese seriously and producers of world-famous ‘Parmigiano Reggiano’ are fighting fakes with the help of microchips (Credits: Reuters)

Real Parmigiano Reggiano is made from three ingredients: locally produced milk no more than 24 hours old, salt and rennet, a natural enzyme taken from calf intestine.

It has a protected destination of origin status, meaning can only be produced in particular areas of the Emilia Romagna region.

But many imitation versions will also simply be labelled parmesan, the direct translation of Parmigiano Reggiano. This is because the name is not regulated outside of the EU.

So the parmesan on your supermarket shelves is far from authentic.

Often, cheeses proclaiming to be 100% parmesan might contain ingredients like potassium sorbate, cheese cultures and cellulose, which is essentially wood pulp.

The cost of real Parmigiano Reggiano depends on its weight, age, and retailer. A 1kg wheel of the real deal can cost anywhere from £50 to £100.

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Cheesy chips indeed.