> Westcombe Dairy's maturing cave is equipped with cheddar-turning robot, nicknamed Tina the Turner
And wanted to see it in action, here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDLJwmdonIo
That is a vastly more complex machine and action than I was expecting. Seems like there is more to the process than just flipping it over.
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vision/rethinking-how-we-detect...
Imagine trying to buy stolen wheels of Parmigianino or German cheese.
Nope, they were just talking about stealing cheese.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/cheese-tracking-chips-parmesan
To who? Suppose I buy some "Parmesan cheese" and it tastes exactly like Parmesan cheese. What's the problem supposed to be?
In what sense is the cheese counterfeit at all?
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/amount-wood-pulp-grated-par...
https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/parmesan-che...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2012/11/19/the-dar...
If you don't like it then you should buy solid parmesan and grate it yourself. In the US or anywhere else.
https://iperdrive.iper.it/spesa-online/it/seriate/parmigiano...
Powdered cellulose is an Annex II food additive in the EU - E 460(ii) - and is an allowed food additive to any grated or sliced whey cheese, quantum satis (the manufacturer can use as much of it as they need to use, because it is considered harmless) [1]
This is EXACTLY the same situation as the US.
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/food/food-feed-portal/screen/food-addit...
My statement a few comments above was a brain fart :) The larger the grated pieces, the less anti-caking agents you would need. It completely slipped my mind and I suspect that the cheese linked above would be larger pieces of parmesan. Still, if exposed to the high humidity present in some parts of the US (less common in Italy), the cheese in that package would eventually become a clumpy mess if not fully consumed quickly :)
You have to understand that lots of people seem to enjoy parmesan as essentially a powder. I have no idea why, that is certainly not my preference. However, there is demand for parmesan "powder" and the market therefore supplies it. Powdered cellulose is the only way to make that happen.
Italy is basically a massive peninsula and some islands - it's quite humid! The humidity in Parma itself today is 65%, which is the same as Miami, Florida today and more than New Orleans. it's fall in Italy, and in Palermo it's 80% humidity, in Bergamo 84%, Bologna 83% etc.
In general the FDA in the US is much more liberal in favour of the industry, sacrificing quality and this apply to several products.
(For example i found out that in the US the minimum amount of chocolate that has to be present in a chocolate product is like 10% and in europe is 25% (if i am not wrong) and the amount of max sugar is also different.
Said this, you can eat all the cellulose you feel like eating, but I think it's wrong to 1) charge for it as if it was parmigiano and 2) sell it as an italian product.
ps regarding your humidity comment
"Alaska is one of the most humid states! In fact, Alaska reports an average RH of 77%, with the next highest state, Florida, reporting a 74% average. Despite Florida being hot and balmy, Alaska has high humidity levels because of its milder, lower temperatures."
https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Italy/humidity-annual...
There's not a problem per-se, but the issue is that in all reality you'd probably be getting an inferior product. The exclusivity is done so that consumers can be ensured that they are getting cheese from a specific area with specific criteria.
If it is indistinguishable, is it different? It starts to get a bit philosophical from there on in.
I think though fakes tend to be significantly worse quality because they want to make loads of profit. I can't see cheese fraudsters going to the same lengths of maturation and all that because why bother.
I mean… I dunno, it isn’t as if I actually believe my country has sane regulations. But I’ve presumably already eaten lots of American sawdust in my powdered cheese products, how bad could it be for me? What kind of sawdust do they have in Parma?
And it’s not just about that. “Parmesan” in the US doesn’t have to abide by… basically anything. It doesn’t need to be aged. It doesn’t need to be milk of any particular quality. It can include any ingredients. It has no definitional requirements at all, other than needing to plausibly be cheese.
Kind of an ironic claim in a discussion of Cheddar cheese.
You may have noticed that you supposed the opposite of what I supposed, for sanity’s sake.
The same applies to a laundry list of food ingredients and products, including wines, cheeses, teas, produce, and meat. PDO isn't the only such scheme, several countries have their own appelation programs.
From a counterfeiting perspective there are three major concerns - misleading the consumer, economic harm to the cheesemakers in the region of origin, and potential food safety.
In terms of misleading the consumer, mass market parmesan cheese is usually produced with pasteurized milk vs raw milk and cured for 10 months vs 24 months. It is often sold ground into a fine powder to conceal the lower quality texture, and the flavour profile is substantially different. When cooking with 10 month cured cheese vs 24 month cured cheese, there is a noticeable difference in how the cheese melts and incorporates into different foods which can result in downstream lower quality foods (in terms of presentation and flavour, nutritionally the differences are negligable).
In terms of economic harm, parmesan cheese is substantially cheaper to produce, and has a retail price as low as $~0.50/ounce. PDO Parmesan ranges in price from $~1.50/ounce for 2 year aged, and as high as $~10/ounce (note my prices are converted from CAD to USD, and based on prices from the cheese market near me, prices may vary by market). If a counterfeiter can sell parmesan as PDO Parmesan Reggiano, they command a significant margin, even if they sell it much cheaper than the retail price).
In terms of health risks, PDO and other Appelation designations often require audits or reviews of production process to ensure compliance and quality control. Fake PDO Parm made with unpasteurized milk and not handled properly can bring the risks of using raw milk to the consumer - properly made PDO Parm results in a cured and extremely low moisture product that should destroy most of the bacteria and molds. Even minor changes in the production process can make the resulting product unsafe or higher risk for consumption.
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/oltermanni-salakuljettaj...
You'd have to be pretty bad at reselling to resort to selling it out of the back of a car.
Current Working Title: Wheel of Feta
Any one know if any cheese is showing up on the dark nets?
It's not illegal, illegal so it should get through the post easily and use refrigeration transport and less hassle if you get pulled over by the cops.
Some countries like New Zealand are pretty strict with dairy imports so trying to get brunost from Norway...
"cheddar-turning robot, nicknamed Tina the Turner."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hnQnTRIfws
No cheese buyer at a large retailer in the UK would touch it. It’s not worth the risk.
Similarly at the artisan end of the market, it’s a small world (like the article says) - why would you risk your personal and commercial reputation buying stolen goods? You wouldn’t.
Keep hold of it for a while then when it has blown over sell a truckle here or there to an up-market restaurant, perhaps a few at a time for a small distributor etc.
Probably untraceable and entirely legit looking if you are just selling cheese. It's not like they are going to be trying to off load your "typical" high-value goods at silly low prices in pubs and car boot sales.
If anyone here is a fan of Brandon Sanderson but doesn't listen to his podcast with Dan Wells, called Intentionally Blank, you might enjoy it. And one of their things is to start off most episodes with a news story about a food heist - this apparently happens a lot.
> The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist (French: vol de sirop d'érable du siècle, lit. 'maple syrup heist of the century') was the theft over several months in 2011 and 2012 of nearly 3,000 tonnes (3,000 long tons; 3,300 short tons) of maple syrup, valued at C$18.7 million (equivalent to C$24.1 million in 2023) from a storage facility in Quebec. The facility was operated by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (French: Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec, FPAQ) which represents 77 percent of the global maple syrup supply.[1]
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei...
Not sure what they mean by “high value” here.
> Neal's Yard Dairy sells Hafod Welsh for £12.90 for a 300g piece, while Westcombe costs £7.15 for 250g and Pitchfork is priced at £11 for 250g.
To convert it to American, I think that is like $8/lb or so? So it is a little more expensive than Tillamoook (which is a decent, but definitely mass market, brand) but same order of magnitude.
Although I guess that must be the wholesale price.
Mystery how folks could spend GBP 11 for 250 g of Cheddar !?