Cheese Heists: Why Parmesan Makers Are Using Edible Microchips

It’s a story that’s almost too Gouda to be true. With cheese now ranking among the hottest commodities on the black market, artisanal cheesemakers have found themselves in a bizarre battle against “cheese pirates.”

From Heists to High-Tech Measures

Case in point: a 63-year-old man in England was recently arrested for stealing an eye-watering $389,000 worth — nearly 48,000 pounds — of cheese from Neal’s Yard Dairy, a renowned London cheesemonger. These types of daring dairy heists have pushed cheese suppliers to take extreme measures. Enter the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, which is now embedding tiny edible microchips into its cheese wheels to combat theft and counterfeiting.

Why Cheese Is a Criminal's New Gold

Why would criminals bother with cheese? It turns out that targeting high-value food items is a low-risk, high-reward strategy. Unlike drug smuggling, food-related crimes often result in less severe penalties. The allure of pricey cheese, like Parmigiano Reggiano, makes it as sought after as gold — or even, as some reports cheekily suggest, as valuable as heroin.

Cheese has also become a target for counterfeiters. Unlike fake luxury handbags that are easier to spot, counterfeit Parmesan can fool even seasoned buyers. To fight this, the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium started adding microchips, which are smaller than a grain of rice, to their hefty 90-pound wheels. These chips provide digital authentication, making it easier to trace and verify genuine products.

Related: The Healthiest Cheese You Can Eat

A Billion-Dollar Problem

The scale of food fraud is staggering. According to the World Trade Organization, food fraud (excluding alcohol) costs the industry an estimated $30 to $50 billion each year. While cheese may seem like an unlikely target, the combination of its high value and relatively lenient legal consequences has made it a prime product for black market activity.

As cheesemakers adopt high-tech solutions to protect their products, one thing is clear: the world of dairy has entered a new, surprisingly high-stakes era. And for cheese lovers everywhere, this might mean the next wheel of Parmesan you buy could come with a side of microchip technology — perfectly edible, of course.