Italy’s cheese consortium has announced it is taking steps to tackle the hugely lucrative market of counterfeit parmesan. Parmigiano-Reggiano, a hard aged cheese, has become an icon of Italian gastronomy. But it has also spawned a thriving spin-off market of fake parmesan cheese.

A fraudulent cheese market worth billions
Parmigiano-Reggiano is one of Italy's most renowned food products. It is made in the northeastern Emilia Romagna region in the areas of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Mantua. In 2021, sales of the cheese reached an estimated $2.7 billion.