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.
The chips use blockchain technology and trace the wheel of cheese back to where the milk that was used came from.
Cryptobros, Unite! We finally found a way for blockchain tech to be relevant for more than just ransomware! We authenticate cheese!
Someone’s gonna make a ton of money on CheeseCoin
Blockchain is also good for solving the Ship of Theseus problem. You can encode the entire history of the object into the object.
Blockchain has many cool uses and none of them are currency.
I mean, the ship of Theseus isn’t a problem, nor is there a solution, but I get the joke anyway :)
Maybe I’m a picker eater, but I think I’d rather have an inauthentic product than eating a microchip.
What if the inauthentic product is made by my mate dodgy Dave who got a load of cheap milk and some dirty old metalwork, it’s ok he flushed a load of industrial cleaner through them and it’s good stuff they use it to clean engines at his brother’s garage…
You’d be far better off not buying a prestige product and getting a good quality cheese from a reputable manufacturer at a price that doesn’t include a huge markup due to perceived historic significance
I mean I was being a little jocular in my comment (since this tracker is on the outside) it doesn’t really matter.
But by preferring “inauthentic” I was thinking something like “Greek style cheese” which is just feta but made outside of Greece or sparking wine for champagne. So food standards still apply.
But yeah, they are trying to stop fraudulent claims.
As long as Dodgy Dave passed his mandatory FDA inspections I’d eat his cheese.
You think the big brands don’t use industrial cleaner? LOL
But the point is if the labels are fake you don’t know if they got inspected, it’s organized crime gangs running it and they’re not really known for being sticklers for the law…
The cleaning products and procedures are heavily regulated in food production because when they’re not people cut corners and use cheaper things without regard for long-term health effects
Now you’re worried about counterfeit Dodgy Dave cheese? Where are you buying your cheese‽
It’s a supply chain issue, criminal gangs fake paperwork and all that stuff hence the cheese people going for more extreme security measures - you could be eating Dave’s cheese in an expensive restaurant, as far as they know it’s ligit but the importer or supplier duped them
You wouldn’t even notice.
I would!
points RFID scanner in their general direction
Nothing enhances that Mediterranean flavor quite like micro plastics
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.
Okay…
That still begs the question, why are they considered edible? Are people eating the labels? 🤔
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Interesting. So how long before you become an official scannable wheel of cheese? 🤔
Probably because otherwise people would be like “yOuRe PuTtInG mEtAl IN mY cHEeSe”
Even if it’s just the size of a grain of sand, I don’t want to worry about biting down on that.
I would too, but it goes in the shell/outside that goes around the cheese wheel, not in the cheese itself
I’m just saying, there’s a reason we’re not allowed to have kinder surprise eggs in the US. If we can find a way to hurt ourselves with food we will. And then we will sue.
I guess in that case I should probably seek out the counterfeit versions of it since they’re now apparently better than the originals.
What?
Where in the article did it mention that the counterfeit versions are better than the originals? I didn’t see a comparison of quality at all (maybe I missed it?).
I think it’s more than the counterfeit versions have gotten so good and/or cheap that the genuine manufacturers feel the need to compete by placing microchips in their cheese rather than improve their own or bring down the price.
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You’re talking about market economics on a site full of tankies.
The conspiracy theorists are going to run wild with this one.
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.
Just wait until you hear about olive oil.
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).
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.
I’m concerned. At least fake cheese is real cheese. What’s lower cost than using hens to produce eggs?
Even lower cost, mass production, fuck knows. Am concerned as well.
Legally it’s only cheese if it comes from the “Formaggi” region in Italy. Otherwise it has to be called “bad milk product”.
TIL that counterfeit fucking cheese is a thing.
Well one wheel of the cheese costs $1000
OMG! That’s what those crystals are!
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if people who is eating them cant tell the difference than whats the point
Probably to protect the “brand” at places that actually care about advertising what kind of cheese they have
You really don’t want to buy counterfeit food.
Could you please elaborate on that
My friend, it’s food. You put into your body. Do you really need to ask why it’s a huge breach of trust?
They make counterfeit Rolex so good, you need an expert and a microscope to tell the difference. Why not cheese.
The microchips aren’t edible because they want you to eat them. They’re edible because they know some idiot eventually will eat one.
I knew this was how Bill Gates would get us. Through our spaghetti and meatballs.
They found our one weakness.
My Parmesan cheese comes from Wisconsin and I think it’s good.
Great, now I can scan my poop.
The COVID vaccines were a distraction; this is where the chips are really going
