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Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

foodandwine.com

11–20 of 317 posts

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#11

How is this considered food safe? Chewing it will definitely break any casing on the device, right? The other thing I'd like to point out is that these can be copied. They aren't like a yubikey which responds to a challenge with an internal asymmetric private key.

Typically you don't eat the rind on this kind of cheese.

It's usually used for soup stock, though.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#12

How is this considered food safe? Chewing it will definitely break any casing on the device, right? The other thing I'd like to point out is that these can be copied. They aren't like a yubikey which responds to a challenge with an internal asymmetric private key.

> Chewing it will definitely break any casing on the device, right?

Or your teeth (which is also not "food safe").

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#13

How is this considered food safe? Chewing it will definitely break any casing on the device, right? The other thing I'd like to point out is that these can be copied. They aren't like a yubikey which responds to a challenge with an internal asymmetric private key.

Typically you don't eat the rind on this kind of cheese.

It's a waste if you're not. https://www.eataly.com/us_en/magazine/how-to/leftover-parmes...

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#15
I'm curious to know which cheesemakers are using these chips. If you look at a wheel of Parmigiano (a whole one), you will see a number stamped on it. That's the cheesemaker's matriculation number in the consortium. There are 313 active ones right now. Some of them are very big (especially the ones in the lowlands) and some of them are very small (mostly the ones up in the hills). The small cheesemakers have trouble selling their current stock, so I doubt that they are putting tracking chips in their wheels. I can see a few big producers that work with the international market adding tracking chips to their wheels, but that's about it.

Another fun fact, most cheesemakers are farmer coops and act as a sort of bank for the farmers. Most of them can borrow against their "share" of the cheese that is aging if they have a big capital expense that it coming up and they can't wait 2-3 years for the cheese to age and sell.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#16

How is this considered food safe? Chewing it will definitely break any casing on the device, right? The other thing I'd like to point out is that these can be copied. They aren't like a yubikey which responds to a challenge with an internal asymmetric private key.

Typically you don't eat the rind on this kind of cheese.

Italian here - that's no excuse for compromising food safety, also from a legal perspective.

I might be wrong, but as rind is part of the cheese itself, you can't just embed random electronics in it (unless you apply it e.g. as an external, removable seal)

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically you don't eat the rind on this kind of cheese.

It's usually used for soup stock, though.

I was thinking the same thing. I never had great results with this, but it's certainly a traditional thing to throw the rind in water used for rice, etc. as well.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#18
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typically you don't eat the rind on this kind of cheese.

try me!! What if it gets fed to some pet or farm animal?

I suppose they might be mistaken for fine Parmesan cheese. Otherwise they’ll be fine. Have you not noticed what your dog will happily eat off the ground when you’re out for a walk? Discarded socks, gravel, bits of plastic, cat shit, gum wrappers, literally anything that catches its eye when you’re not paying close attention.

Re: Parmigiano Reggiano makers embedding tiny trackers in rind to fight cheese fraud

#20

How is this considered food safe? Chewing it will definitely break any casing on the device, right? The other thing I'd like to point out is that these can be copied. They aren't like a yubikey which responds to a challenge with an internal asymmetric private key.

Typically you don't eat the rind on this kind of cheese.

I prize the rind for throwing in ragu to melt down
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