"Italian Parmesan cheese producers have been fighting against imitations for years", writes the Wall Street Journal, adding "Their latest trick to defeat copycats is edible microchips."
"Now the makers of Parmigiano-Reggiano, as authentic Parmesan cheese is officially called, are putting microchips in the 90-pound cheeses as part of a never-ending cat-and-mouse game between makers of genuine and fake products."
Some wineries put serial numbers, invisible ink and holograms on their bottles. So-called DNA fingerprinting of milk bacteria pioneered in Switzerland is being tested as a method of cheese identification. A smartphone can show information such as how long a prosciutto has been aged and when it was cut…
The new silicon chips, made by Chicago-based p-Chip, use blockchain technology to authenticate data that can trace the cheese back to the milk producer.
The chips have been in advanced testing on more than 100.000 Parmigiano cheeses for more than a year. The consortium of producers wants to make sure the chips can meet the aging requirements of Parmigiano, which is at least one year and can exceed three years for some varieties…
p-Chips can withstand extreme heat or cold, and can withstand years of storage in liquid nitrogen. Parmigiano producers also use QR codes, but the codes are easily copied and damaged during the aging process of the cheese.
In lab tests, the chips stayed for three weeks in a stomach acid environment without leaking any hazardous material. Eibon (Bill Eibon, Chief Technology Officer of p-Chip) took it a step further by eating one with no side effects. He even mentions that the p-Chip does not track people, which is not possible because the chips cannot be read from a distance and read once swallowed.
"We don't want to be known as the company accused of tracking people," Eibon said. "I ate one of the chips and no one is watching me except my wife, who uses a different method."
