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.

  • @dhork@lemmy.world
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    1112 years ago

    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

    • @Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world
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      352 years ago

      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.

    • @dodslaser@feddit.nu
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      122 years ago

      I don’t know, can you make a JPEG of the cheese wheel and then put the hyperlink on the blockchain? Maybe make it so I can import the cheese in a shitty MMO that nobody actually wants to play?

    • @June@lemm.ee
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      2 years ago

      Blockchain =/= crypto

      Crypto uses blockchain, but blockchain is just a different type of database that generally tracks data through a decentralized network. It has a lot of real uses beyond crypto like identity verification, transcript/records management management, and iot data sharing. It’s nothing that can’t be done in a centralized manner, it’s just a different way of going about it that, in some cases, is much more secure and/or much more easily accessible.

      • @Helluin@lemm.ee
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        262 years ago

        It’s nothing that can’t be done in a centralized manner,

        and thats the main problem with basically all blockchain related solutions, theres pretty much always a centralized alternative thats more efficient

        • utopianrevolt
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          42 years ago

          and much more… centralized? But let’s also just ignore the part where it’s described as generally more secure as well.

          • @Helluin@lemm.ee
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            32 years ago

            and much more… centralized?

            it being centralized dosent mean its bad. theres also the fact that many processes are centralized by the nature of how they work.

            it’s described as generally more secure as well.

            why would that be?

          • @turmacar@lemmy.world
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            72 years ago

            The cheese makers are not concerned about decentralization. Presumably they trust themselves, because they are the only ones trusted to write to the database. If they are the only ones allowed to put something on the chain, it’s a central database, regardless of how many computers/places they run it on.

            Blockchain is not magically more secure than any other equivalent cryptographic solution.

          • @FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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            52 years ago

            Most commercial non-crypto blockchains I’ve seen only have a couple of nodes connected, usually held by a single entity. In these cases it’s no less centralised than any alternative write-only DB.

          • Natanael
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            12 years ago

            What corporation which validates their supply chain for authenticity is not already centralized? It literally makes no sense when the official manufacturer and logistics partners are all known, at that point you may at best want “transparency logs” but not blockchains. They’re not even intended to stay authenticated on a second hand market, so there’s no need to be able to keep tracking their movements after first sale

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    192 years ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The next time you dig into a bowl of pasta with freshly grated parmesan, you could accidentally be eating a microchip.

    That’s because makers of Parmigiano-Reggiano are implanting microchips into the casings of their 90-pound cheese wheels as the latest move to ward off counterfeiters, The Wall Street Journal reported.

    Parmigiano-Reggiano must be made in a particular area of northern Italy’s Emilia Romagna region and with specific production standards and techniques.

    The microchip can then be scanned to pull up a unique serial ID that buyers can use to ensure they’ve got the real thing.

    “We keep fighting with new methods,” Alberto Pecorari, whose job is to protect the product’s authenticity for a group that represents Parmigiano makers, told the Journal.

    Parmigiano-Reggiano is among the many food products that are formally protected in the European Union, including Champagne from France and Feta from Greece.


    The original article contains 324 words, the summary contains 144 words. Saved 56%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • @Tatters@feddit.uk
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      92 years ago

      The more local cheese makers the better, as long as it does not call itself Parmigiano-Reggiano.

  • @Fishy@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Maybe I’m a picker eater, but I think I’d rather have an inauthentic product than eating a microchip.

      • @Fishy@lemmy.world
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        -32 years ago

        I know. There’s an answer above where I say that. Writing a jokey comment doesn’t mean you haven’t read it.

        • @happyhippo@feddit.it
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          32 years ago

          Well then the right thing to do would be to edit your misinformation-spreading comment in this thread, don’t you think?

          I’m not reading ALL of your comments

          • @Fishy@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Haha no. Cause I read the article before I posted my comment. I’m not spreading misinformation.

            The misinformation is in the title of the article. Report the article instead of going after someone who read it, and is obviously not talking about the article seriously.

            It’s funny though when someone says read the article doesn’t read the one of the top tree of comments they are replying to where I explicitly say it’s a non issue 10 hours before your comment.

            Maybe you want to edit your comment.

            • @happyhippo@feddit.it
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              12 years ago

              We are definitely not sorting comments by the same criterion, then.

              Your other comment was nowhere to be seen 😉

    • @Rescuer6394@feddit.nl
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      112 years ago

      as other people pointed out, is a sticker on the outside, on the hard part.

      unless you are very hungry and have good teeth, you will not eat it.

      yet, since is applied on edible product, it needs to be edible.

    • @Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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      32 years ago

      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

      • Riskable
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        42 years ago

        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

        • @Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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          22 years ago

          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

          • Riskable
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            22 years ago

            Now you’re worried about counterfeit Dodgy Dave cheese? Where are you buying your cheese‽

            • @nxdefiant@startrek.website
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              22 years ago

              There was a HUGE scandal in the UK over rotten horse meat getting mixed into basically everything. This was part of the whole Ikea horse meat story from years ago.

            • @Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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              02 years ago

              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

      • @Fishy@lemmy.world
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        32 years ago

        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.

    • Otter
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      232 years ago

      That’s because makers of Parmigiano-Reggiano are implanting microchips into the casings of their 90-pound cheese wheels as the latest move to ward off counterfeiters, The Wall Street Journal reported.

      If it’s just going in the casings, then it wouldn’t be eaten I guess?

  • Sibbo
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    162 years ago

    Are we not all chipped anyways through the civic vaccine? /s

  • @Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com
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    42 years ago

    I wonder how close they are to realm parmesan, those counterfeited cheeses.

    Parmigiano Reggiano is truly something special.

      • @Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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        32 years ago

        Worth noting that they use microchips because blind taste tests, chemical analysis, and any other comparison demonstrates that copies are indistinguishable - if you buy prestige food products you’re almost certainly just wasting money

        • @flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz
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          32 years ago

          Not necessarily. The insane level of protection applied by the original is the motivation to produce such good copies. Otherwise the copies would be just a generic “hard cheese”.

          DOP/AOP regulations imo produce more benefit than harm, even by motivating copycats

        • @astropenguin5@lemmy.world
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          32 years ago

          I think the problem is more that they don’t want to have to do those things on every single wheel, the microchips make identification easier. Also worth noting that many things can be physically and/or chemically identical but still have different value due to the way it was produced, some things that come to mind are power and hydrogen. They can both be produced in many ways, with some in more environmentally friendly ways than others, and the consumer may care about that.

  • @Gork@lemm.ee
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    742 years ago

    If I run low on health and have to eat several dozen cheese wheels, will the authentic DRM ones provide a greater HP boost compared to the generic cheese wheels?

    • Curious Canid
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      212 years ago

      Actually an “HP boost” refers to using fake Hewlett-Packard ink cartridges that circumvent their ink-jet printer DRM. 😁

  • @Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de
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    2732 years ago

    For fucks sake… This is literally about an RFID sticker that is put on the outside of whole cheese wheels.

    So unless you buy whole 40kg wheel and then eat it with the rind… you are not eating any.

    And also fuck that article for even mentioning that.

    • @N1NJ4W4RR10R_@aussie.zone
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      2 years ago

      That makes it sound like the “edible” aspect of this is just an anti idiot feature. *Or just “printed” on it.

      Either way, pointless article.

      • @_s10e@feddit.de
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        512 years ago

        I believe regulations require that everything you put in or on food is technically editable. Like the paper stickers on bread or produce. They are disgusting, but if you or your child accidentally eats them, they are fine.

      • @Meowoem@sh.itjust.works
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        172 years ago

        Alex Jones will yell about the headline and say Soros is microchipping food and if you eat cheese the 5g vaccine will do a false flag and turn the frogs even gayer.

          • utopianrevolt
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            32 years ago

            You’re completely right, but it’s also highlighted when people on the internet discuss things they know nothing about but decide to become very sarcastic against “the other side.”

            smug superiority indeed. many examples in this very thread.

      • @June@lemm.ee
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        142 years ago

        lol right? I would never lol, that would be like, too much? Would it be too much? Honestly we may never know

          • Terrasque
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            22 years ago

            You severely underestimate my cheese eating ability

            • silly goose meekah
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              2 years ago

              I seriously love parmesan. I always buy it fresh and grate it myself. I know pretty well how much cheese is reasonable to eat in a sitting. 100g is insanely much for one serving, but you could distribute it over the whole day. If you eat 100g of parmesan each day, 1kg will be gone after 10 days. That means eating 40kg takes 400 days, or a bit longer than a year.

              Being a bit more realistic easily allows you to stretch that wheel of parmesan over the span of a decade, even if you seriously love the stuff.

              I’m perfectly aware that you’re not being entirely serious but I just can’t let it stand like that.

              • Terrasque
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                12 years ago

                shifty eyes Yes, 100 grams is quite a lot. Yes. Indeed. Quite right.

                • silly goose meekah
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                  22 years ago

                  When I was a kid we’d grate 200g for 4 people. I take a bit less nowadays than what I would get as a kid but some people still look at me funny. I think 20-30g is a regular serving.

      • AstralWeekends
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        62 years ago

        If your soup or sauce sparks a little bit next time, you’ll know, lol.

        • @grue@lemmy.world
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          32 years ago

          https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=parmesan+rind+uses&ia=web

          From the top result (Treehugger):

          1. Throw them into tomato sauce when cooking. They’ll impart some flavor. Pull them out and discard when the sauce is done cooking.
          2. Place them in a jar, pour olive oil over them (perhaps add some garlic cloves, too – but if you add garlic, make sure to keep the oil refrigerated) and make parmesan-infused olive oil. Great for dipping bread into.
          3. Throw them into bean soups or minestrone. Discard the rinds before serving.
          4. Throw them into the pot when you’re making stock.
          5. Add to stew. Remove rinds before serving.
          6. Use them to flavor steamed artichokes. Add some chicken broth, onion and lemon juice and a cheese rind or two, and it’s a delicious broth!
          7. Put a rind in the pot when you’re cooking risotto or other rice. Remove the rind before serving.
          8. Make a parmesan broth for cheese-filled pastas like ravioli. You can try the Bitchincamero’s recipe for ricotta & pea ravioli in parmesan broth or just use the recipe for inspiration for your own pasta in Parmesan broth.
          9. Try The Novice Chef’s Panera-inspired recipe for tomato, cheese and bread Soup.
          10. If the rind is pure cheese (with no waxy coating), you can grill the rind until it becomes soft and chewy, put it on a piece of crusty bread, and eat.