Parmesan is a hard Italian cheese made from cow’s milk. Since it is one of the most popular cheeses in the world, it is often the subject of fake products. New measures are being taken to combat them.

Detail

• Parmesan has a protected designation of origin – which means it must prove its origin before selling it in the EU and the UK.
• According to the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium (official trade group), The fake product volume is almost the same as the real product sales volume.. The newest Parmesan sells for about $2.44 billion, while counterfeit products sell for $2.08 billion.
• To remedy the situation, the company Kaasmerk Matec, which produces casein crusts for cheesemakers and them, hired a new partner, according to the consortium’s website. The company that created the digital tracking technology is p-Chip.
• Together, they place small and food-safe trackers in a cheese shell.

According to Parmigiano Reggiano, “the innovation combines food-safe casein labels with the p-Chip microchip that creates digital copies for physical objects. This label is smaller than a grain of salt and has high strength, providing next-generation traceability.” It will provide an additional guarantee of product authenticity in the interest of manufacturers, the entire distribution chain and the end user.

The consortium is committed to the use of such smart tags. a hundred thousand heads will be added to the cheese It’s in the second quarter of 2022 and this will be the final phase of technology testing. The group will then decide whether to leave it as a permanent part of cheese production.