In the age-old battle to protect Italy’s culinary crown jewels, parmesan producers have unleashed a new, high-tech weapon: microchips. Tiny transponders, no bigger than a grain of salt, are now nestled within the dark yellow rinds of Parmigiano Reggiano, known to most of the world as parmesan. These microchips, when scanned, reveal a unique serial number that ensures buyers they’re getting the real deal, not some imposter churned out in a faraway factory.

This latest innovation comes as Italy’s beloved cheese faces an onslaught of counterfeiters eager to cash in on the reputation of authentic Parmigiano Reggiano, which brings in a hefty €2.9 billion annually. The counterfeit market is not too far behind, raking in an estimated $2 billion with its cheesy knock-offs.

Alberto Pecorari, from the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, is determined to fight back. “We keep fighting with new methods,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “We won’t give up.”

The stakes are high, and not just for parmesan. The global market is awash with fake Italian products, from phony Parma ham to faux San Daniele prosciutto. According to Coldiretti, Italy’s national agricultural association, a staggering two-thirds of “Italian” food products sold worldwide are impostors. The U.S. is a particularly egregious offender, with consumers snapping up €40 billion worth of faux Italian goods each year. In fact, around 90 percent of the cheese sold in the U.S. as Italian—from Parmigiano Reggiano to mozzarella—is actually produced in places like Wisconsin and California.

The problem is not confined to the U.S. either. Brazil has its own counterfeit parmesan, cheekily named Parmesao, while Argentina offers a knock-off called Regianito.

The fight against food fraud is nothing new for Italy. In 2020, Italian police busted a criminal syndicate producing thousands of bottles of counterfeit wine, passing it off as Bolgheri Sassicaia, one of the country’s most celebrated wines. The operation was so sophisticated that the counterfeiters even replicated the hologram meant to prevent such fraud.

So, next time you’re sprinkling parmesan on your pasta, you might want to pause and check if it’s the real thing. Thanks to these high-tech microchips, authentic Parmigiano Reggiano is now safer than ever from the clutches of counterfeiters. The battle for Italy’s culinary integrity rages on, but with every microchip-studded wheel, the good guys are gaining ground.