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Cheesemakers experiment with microchips to authenticate Parmigiano Reggiano (english.elpais.com)
submitted 10 months ago by boem to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Parmigiano Reggiano

Producers estimate that global sales of counterfeit cheese amount to around $1.73 billion (€1.6 billion) annually.

In the United States alone, the production of imitation Italian cheeses reached an astonishing 5.7 billion pounds (2.6 billion kilos) in 2021, according to Coldiretti.

Oh, for Chrissake. It's not a counterfeit. "Parmesan and Reggiano" is a genericized identifier in the US. Everyone in the US knows that they're buying a variety of cheese, not a cheese from Italy. If you want something from Italy, you look on the label for a "product of Italy".

Saying that this is a counterfeit is roughly equivalent to me saying that the EU produces counterfeit Wendy's food because Wendy's-the-hamburger-company doesn't own the Wendy's trademark in the EU. Nobody in the Netherlands going to Wendy's is expecting that they're getting something from Wendy's-the-hamburger-chain.

[–] alokir 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is a cultural thing, in Europe we take these kind of things much more seriously. We take pride in our regional products and they're protected by law. It's not tied to a company like in your example, that we care much less about, it's more a matter of national or regional identity.

But this logic goes even further. For example, in my home country you can't label almond milk as "almond milk" since it's not actually milk but a plant product.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For example, in my home country you can't label almond milk as "almond milk" since it's not actually milk but a plant product.

That's actually a EU-wide thing. All plant based drinks cannot be called milk in the EU (source)

[–] alokir 1 points 10 months ago

Makes sense. Here it applies to every other dairy product that has "milk" in their name in our language as well.

Sour cream is called "tejföl", where "tej" is milk. So fake sour cream is usually called things like "frissföl", friss meaning fresh.

Similarly with butter or margarine, if it doesn't meet the criteria they'll call it something like "breakfast spread" or "sandwich spread" instead of butter.

Cheap hotdog sausages with not enough meat content are usually labeled as "pork fingers" or "beef rods" or somthing similar.

I've seen fake cheese labeled as "pizza topping", it was like half the price of the next cheapest cheese.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We don't have Wendy's in here

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/wendys-locations-europe-netherlands-goes-restaurant

Frikandel Speciaal, Bitterballen, and something called “smulrol” are a few favorites on the menu at Wendy’s in the Dutch city of Goes. There are no 4 for 4€ deals, no Baconators or Son of Baconators, no Frostys to dip your fries. There’s not even an adorable, freckle-faced mascot. Instead, it’s the glorious mullet of the chain-smoking man behind the counter, Albert van der Hoek.

This is what Wendy’s looks like in Europe: A hole-in-the-wall chippie run by some brute Dutch sailors with a serious case of stick-it-to-the-man-itis. It’s the reason a certain billion-dollar, red-headed American fast food chain has been kicked off the continent.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I meant more a franchised american Wendy's, not snackbar with the same name