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.
I got to admit, Italians inventing Cheese DRM, wasn’t on my 2023 Bingo card.
Physical products are the only ones that makes sense for DRM.
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.
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.
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
and much more… centralized? But let’s also just ignore the part where it’s described as generally more secure as well.
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.
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.
Maybe I’m a picker eater, but I think I’d rather have an inauthentic product than eating a microchip.
You won’t be eating any, read again.
I know. There’s an answer above where I say that. Writing a jokey comment doesn’t mean you haven’t read it.
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
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.
We are definitely not sorting comments by the same criterion, then.
Your other comment was nowhere to be seen 😉
Poe’s law strikes again
You wouldn’t even notice.
I’m both cases.
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
Nothing enhances that Mediterranean flavor quite like micro plastics
The conspiracy theorists are going to run wild with this one.
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?
Except for counterfeiters. They eat the whole thing to make sure their copies are accurate but now we can track their poops. I’m telling you, Mario, this thing is genius!
That’s why he was a plumber, to track our poop
I’m just picturing him listening to the pipes with a stethoscope
Dr Mario says you haven’t eaten enough fiber
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They don’t read the article though so as far as they’re concerned this proves jet fuel can’t melt 5G COVID
its funny that some ppl are paranoid that bill gates is trying to microchip them with a vaccine when they probably already have been by the fucking itailians
Next up. Improve your wireless network with cheese.
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?
Who wants to eat a microchip?
It’s in the wrapper not the cheese silly
Oh. Well then, nevermind!
If I can make cheese good enough to pretend that it’s another brand, I’m gonna just slap my own label on it
It’s not a brand name but a regionally protected signifier. Like champagne.
Ah yeah the appellation system. couldn’t you just call it “Champagne-style wine”?
You can make great cheese, but you can’t fake 900 years of experience and the brand recognition that goes along with it. That’s why people illegally put the parm label on cheese that is not parm.
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.
One of the biggest reasons for avoiding counterfeit food is the higher risk of contaminants.
Semiconductors are a pretty serious contaminant.
They make counterfeit Rolex so good, you need an expert and a microscope to tell the difference. Why not cheese.
It’s almost like luxury goods are a scam and purely for bragging rights of having the brand, and not that the actual object is unique or the best!
TIL that counterfeit fucking cheese is a thing.
Well one wheel of the cheese costs $1000
The microchips aren’t edible because they want you to eat them. They’re edible because they know some idiot eventually will eat 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.
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.
You should pressure-wash your asshole.
Thank you for taking an interest.
Legally it’s only cheese if it comes from the “Formaggi” region in Italy. Otherwise it has to be called “bad milk product”.
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).
I knew this was how Bill Gates would get us. Through our spaghetti and meatballs.
They found our one weakness.
OMG! That’s what those crystals are!
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