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

foodandwine.com

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

#151

Post by cycrutchfield »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #72
karaterobot wrote: post #43

> according to the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium (the official trade group for the cheese) the amount of fraud is almost as big as product sales: Authentic Parmigiano Reggiano sales are around $2.44 billion while fraudulent cheese is a $2.08 billion market. I wonder what they consider fraud. Is it that anything which says "parmesan cheese" on it without being official Parmigiano Reggiano is considered fraud? That is…

From my memory of reading Real Food, Fake Food , they don't care about the term "parmesan"--that term has been rendered generic, much like "champagne" in the US. But "Parmigiano Reggiano" is a protected term with a PDO ("protected designation of origin"). That's the one they care about. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Real-Food-Youre-Eating-About/dp/16162...

Actually “champagne” in the US is not a generic term: https://www.terroir-france.com/wine-faq/american-champagne.h...

There are a small handful of producers that are grandfathered in with being able to call it that though.

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

#152

Post by ravel-bar-foo »

gregsadetsky wrote: post #128
perihelions wrote: post #2

I found technical details about the device: https://www.isenet.it/product/pharmaseq-products/ It's tiny (500 microns), passive, photocell-powered (you point a laser at it), and encapsulated in an inert SiO2 coating.

Fascinating -- https://p-chip.com/solutions/ And the patent -- https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/bf/71/15/70b4303...

It looks like the patent covers an integrated on-chip solar cell. I wonder if the output is by on-chip LED or radio, and if they keep that a trade secret or if it is covered by patent also.

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

#153

Post by ravel-bar-foo »

ge96 wrote: post #27
perihelions wrote: post #2

I found technical details about the device: https://www.isenet.it/product/pharmaseq-products/ It's tiny (500 microns), passive, photocell-powered (you point a laser at it), and encapsulated in an inert SiO2 coating.

Interesting that it is injected (how deep) yet can still be powered by a laser.

SiO2 is glass. So it's a micron-sized silicon chip inside a glass capsule.

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

#154

Post by peoplefromibiza »

karaterobot wrote: post #78
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it's the latter. > the FDA investigated a cheese factory in Pennsylvania and found that the cheese it was selling as “100% grated parmesan” was actually cut with fillers like wood pulp and contained exactly 0% real Parmesan cheese, using instead cheaper varieties like Swiss and cheddar. That particular producer was busted and heavily fined due to a tip-off from a former employee, but similar practices are s…

That sounds like the former, to be honest. What I meant was, is there a black market of the big wheels of fake parmesan, with forged serial numbers, claiming to be approved by whatever body controls the name Parmigiano Reggiano. A plastic bag of grated cheese that says "100% grated parmesan" feels like it's not trying to claim to be real Parmigiano Reggiano. I can see why a Consortium would want to impose a strict de…

Yes there is.

The problem is that it's a real black market, the cheese is stolen and sold on the black market without any assurance that it was handled or aged in the correct way, just as you would imagine in a black market.

So even if the source material is legit, the final product being sold is probably not.

And the illegal profits are hard to quantify, because it's a black market after all.

> there is a thriving black market, as an estimated $7 million in Italian Parmesan cheese has been stolen in just the last two years. Parmesan cheese has proven to be an ideal target for culinary criminals. In order to be certified Parmiggiano Reggiano, the cheese must age for at least a year.

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

#155

Post by cheese_goddess »

denton-scratch wrote: post #99
qalmakka wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Comté tastes similar, but it's still different than Gruyère IMHO.

Until 1976, I had never heard of Comté; they sold that cheese as Gruyére, even though it was made in France. In that year, the AOC regulations came fully into force, and it became illegal to sell cheese made in France as Gruyére. There are many regional variations and qualities of Comté, too. When De Gaulle asked "How can you govern a country with 200 different cheeses", he was underestimating badly.

Until 1976, are you sure? This docu shows "Le Fromage de Comté" and it's dated 1927:

https://youtu.be/icu-oMerROI

One of the legends points out the similarity with Gruyére, but it still calls the French cheese Comté:

"Le fromage de Comté, analogue du Gruyére suisse, se differencie de l' Emmental..."

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

#156

Post by gregsadetsky »

ravel-bar-foo wrote: post #152
gregsadetsky wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating -- https://p-chip.com/solutions/ And the patent -- https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/bf/71/15/70b4303...

It looks like the patent covers an integrated on-chip solar cell. I wonder if the output is by on-chip LED or radio, and if they keep that a trade secret or if it is covered by patent also.

Yeah I had the same question. I didn’t see any mentions of radio in the patent, but the product description document [0] does say:

——

Is the radio frequency signal from the p-Chip harmful?

A. No. The radio signal transmitted by p-Chips is so faint that approval from the US Federal Communications Commission or similar agencies is not required. Emissions fall well below FCC radiated emission limits defined in CFR 47, 15.209.

——

The illuminating laser wand does have a radio receiver. More info in this related patent [1], especially at page 21.

[0] https://www.isenet.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/PharmaSeq_W...

[1] https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/43/da/03/c648387...

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

#157

Post by glaucon »

jeffdn wrote: post #150
justsomeguy123 wrote: post #144

Great, so we are now being fed microchips. "Honey is the parmezzan more old or are we munching on microchips?"

It's in the rind, which you'd be hard pressed to eat!

Pretty mainstream to use Parmesan cheese rinds as part of making soups and stews of various kinds https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-use-parmesan-chees...

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

#158

Post by ravel-bar-foo »

robocat wrote: post #32
tragictrash wrote: post #3

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.

It looks like it is in the qrcode sticker (which most people wouldn’t eat) - shown in the photo in the article. Eating it is no worse than eating a 500 micron grain of sand, except that the chip is safer and more hygienic to eat.

500 microns is pretty big for a food contaminant. It's about 4~5 hair widths, so I reckon your tongue can probably feel it and it might break under your bite.

I would bet it's safe if swallowed whole, but chewing? Not so sure.

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

#159

Post by alexpotato »

jeffdn wrote: post #150
justsomeguy123 wrote: post #144

Great, so we are now being fed microchips. "Honey is the parmezzan more old or are we munching on microchips?"

It's in the rind, which you'd be hard pressed to eat!

In New Jersey at least, King's supermarkets sell chopped up rind in small containers.

Source: my Italian mom buys them for me and I munch on them all the time.

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

#160

Post by karmicthreat »

brewdad wrote: post #100
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just using the brand in question: https://www.target.com/p/sartori-sarvecchio-parmesan-cheese-... https://www.wisconsincheesemart.com/products/parmesan-sarvec... The price is about $7, but you'll notice it's only about 1/3 of a pound, so the per-pound price is $20-21. Which, again, tracks with what I've been saying. The only difference is you might be forced to buy a pound of the real stuff when you get a wedge of Pa…

I just checked. The real stuff from my local Costco cost me $13.99/lb. At that price, there's no good reason for me to buy anything else.

I swear the buyers at Costco must be living their best life.
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