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9 of 10 Wheels Parmigiano-Reggiano are frauds

Hawkeye10

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Then there’s fraud. At the headquarters of the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortium in the city of Reggio Emilia, president Nicola Bertinelli, whose family has made Parmigiano at their farm since 1895, asked me to take a guess: out of 10 wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano sold in the world, how many are real?

“One?” I guessed, expecting I’d be too cynical.

“Exactly. One,” he said.
BBC - Travel - Italy?s practically perfect food


This defeats me.....when we cant even be honest about the cheese, what hope is there for humanity?
 
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?
 
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?

With cheese it is some combination of from the right place made by the right people using correct methods.

These people are claiming that others use the name that they should not use.
 
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?

The article tells you what makes it authentic. And no surprise that most of the inauthentic stuff is made in America. A country that is so lax in food standards, that some American cheese contains up to 9% wood pulp.
 
The article tells you what makes it authentic. And no surprise that most of the inauthentic stuff is made in America. A country that is so lax in food standards, that some American cheese contains up to 9% wood pulp.

Have you seen some of these genetic tests on Seafood...they sometimes get up to finding 90% of the product fake......pretty much everyone up and down the chain dont give a **** so long as they get paid.

In a word: Corruption.
 
With cheese it is some combination of from the right place made by the right people using correct methods.

These people are claiming that others use the name that they should not use.

If they are producing a produce that isn't cheese at all, or varies dramatically apart from the place and specific cattle/cattle feed, then that's fraud and should be addressed by local authorities.

If the product is 99% the same, and the principle gripe is taking their name improperly or just that the ingredients aren't of the highest possible quality, then I don't have a bunch of sympathy. I wouldn't be opposed to them being forced to call it something different, but that would require a level of global government I don't believe exists right now.

Also too, they are welcome to increase production. Apparently the fake stuff can't compete with the real. Sounds like a business opportunity, no? I'd guess they limit breeding and herd size of the magic cows so as to maintain control, though possibly there are other limitations that make expansion difficult.

I have no doubt there are significant difference in quality between the "authentic" cheese and the rest, but there are problems with claiming exclusivity as well. It's really just another way of controlling the market artificially.
 
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?

Basically yes...

...in a 10,000-sq-km geographical area of Italy so carefully defined that you can make Parmigiano on one side of the small city of Bologna but not the other.
 
Basically yes...

This is a battle between a small group of producers in a small area in Italy wanting to limit the market in order to increase prices, and a consumer who doesn't care much as long as it tastes somewhat similar and accomplishes the same thing. Europe uses this system, but US consumers are under no obligation to go along.

In the US, probably the largest selling Parmigiano is that stuff that comes in the green box and doesn't even claim to be Parm. It does contain sawdust.
 
This is a battle between a small group of producers in a small area in Italy wanting to limit the market in order to increase prices, and a consumer who doesn't care much as long as it tastes somewhat similar and accomplishes the same thing. Europe uses this system, but US consumers are under no obligation to go along.

In the US, probably the largest selling Parmigiano is that stuff that comes in the green box and doesn't even claim to be Parm. It does contain sawdust.

Bingo.

I was on a foodie tour of the Emilia-Romagna region a few years back, and they always make parmigiana by hand. Here is a pic of their cooperative cheese making factory which I took:

1xnDa9D.jpg


The real stuff is expensive, and most consumers will either dont know or dont care, as long as what they buy and/or eat is something close to it. So-called "processed" cheese that you can get at the grocery isnt really cheese at all, and the parmesan cheese you sprinkle on your pasta that comes in a can isnt the real thing. It's all about consumers and the market. Anthony Bourdain even said that the fish you order in a restaurant may not be what's named on the menu, it will probably be a cheaper fish, but the taste will be the same.

In the end, you get what you pay for.
 
Interesting if not that surprising to me
On a side note I will be starting my first batch of cheddar on Monday. I have made mozzarella before but never a hard cheese
 
The article tells you what makes it authentic. And no surprise that most of the inauthentic stuff is made in America. A country that is so lax in food standards, that some American cheese contains up to 9% wood pulp.

All fine ground cheese contains wood pulp.
 
This is a battle between a small group of producers in a small area in Italy wanting to limit the market in order to increase prices, and a consumer who doesn't care much as long as it tastes somewhat similar and accomplishes the same thing. Europe uses this system, but US consumers are under no obligation to go along.

In the US, probably the largest selling Parmigiano is that stuff that comes in the green box and doesn't even claim to be Parm. It does contain sawdust.

Kraft is garbage, but all fine ground cheese contains saw dust, not just American. That's as old a tradition as selling fine grind cheese. Its used for anti clumping. Google it.
 
You want a soap box to stand on, go after olive oil. That's some Pablo Escabar stuff.
 
Kraft is garbage, but all fine ground cheese contains saw dust, not just American. That's as old a tradition as selling fine grind cheese. Its used for anti clumping. Google it.

I know why it's there. I know that it's not just an American thing.

I haven't bought a pre shredded cheese in decades.
 
Anthony Bourdain even said that the fish you order in a restaurant may not be what's named on the menu, it will probably be a cheaper fish, but the taste will be the same.

Well, unless they failed to de-worm it properly....
 
If they are producing a produce that isn't cheese at all, or varies dramatically apart from the place and specific cattle/cattle feed, then that's fraud and should be addressed by local authorities.

If the product is 99% the same, and the principle gripe is taking their name improperly or just that the ingredients aren't of the highest possible quality, then I don't have a bunch of sympathy. I wouldn't be opposed to them being forced to call it something different, but that would require a level of global government I don't believe exists right now.

Also too, they are welcome to increase production. Apparently the fake stuff can't compete with the real. Sounds like a business opportunity, no? I'd guess they limit breeding and herd size of the magic cows so as to maintain control, though possibly there are other limitations that make expansion difficult.

I have no doubt there are significant difference in quality between the "authentic" cheese and the rest, but there are problems with claiming exclusivity as well. It's really just another way of controlling the market artificially.

I don't really see it that way. To me an equivalent is, say, Jack Daniels Whiskey. I don't see a problem with only calling a product made in the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee "Jack Daniels" versus anyone with a still and a printing press making something close to it and slapping the label on a similar bottle. It might be close, might taste better to some people (I never cared for Jack Daniels myself when I was drinking) but it's not "Jack Daniels" because it's not made in that area, with the same process, spring water, natural yeasts, aged in a similar environment, etc.

And I don't see it as a problem needing a 'global government.' That government protects copyrights, trade marks, patents and all the rest all day every day for thousands of products. Doesn't mean counterfeits aren't sold, but if you start a business making shoes and openly slapping "Nike" labels on it, and grow to any size, Nike will sue and our government will enforce the law, and shut them down. Takes no more than that to protect this product.

If Kraft bought up the exclusive rights to distribute all of that product, the mechanisms for protecting their exclusive right to sell THAT cheese with THAT name is firmly in place, worldwide, and Kraft would see it done I'd guess.
 
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I know why it's there. I know that it's not just an American thing.

I haven't bought a pre shredded cheese in decades.

Grated cheese has no anti clumping....


But I agree. I only buy wedges as well. I like Locatelli pecarino romano. Good stuff.
 
I don't really see it that way. To me an equivalent is, say, Jack Daniels Whiskey. I don't see a problem with only calling a product made in the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee "Jack Daniels" versus anyone with a still and a printing press making something close to it and slapping the label on a similar bottle. It might be close, might taste better to some people (I never cared for Jack Daniels myself when I was drinking) but it's not "Jack Daniels" because it's not made in that area, with the same process, spring water, natural yeasts, aged in a similar environment, etc.

And I don't see it as a problem needing a 'global government.' That government protects copyrights, trade marks, patents and all the rest all day every day for thousands of products. Doesn't mean counterfeits aren't sold, but if you start a business making shoes and openly slapping "Nike" labels on it, and grow to any size, Nike will sue and our government will enforce the law, and shut them down. Takes no more than that to protect this product.

If Kraft bought up the exclusive rights to distribute all of that product, the mechanisms for protecting their exclusive right to sell THAT cheese with THAT name is firmly in place, worldwide, and Kraft would see it done I'd guess.

But your analogy does work...jack Daniels is in a specific location, ergo, they are permitted to call their product bourbon, rather than whiskey. Even though the ingredients and the process is the same.
 
I know why it's there. I know that it's not just an American thing.

I haven't bought a pre shredded cheese in decades.

I dont know why anyone buys ground or shredded cheese. Is it that hard to grind/shred it yourself?
 
But your analogy does work...jack Daniels is in a specific location, ergo, they are permitted to call their product bourbon, rather than whiskey. Even though the ingredients and the process is the same.

Bourbon is not specific to a location. It's specific to a few ingredients.
 
I dont know why anyone buys ground or shredded cheese. Is it that hard to grind/shred it yourself?

Not to me it isn't. But then I buy pork loin at 2 bucks and turn it into pork chops at 4 bucks.
 
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