this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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This made my contempt for the microchip conspiracists curdle.
I imagine organized crime would probably be big into counterfeiting like that. It's less risky than drugs, doesn't bring as much heat. I know there have been more than one exposure of olive oil fuckery, mixing lower grade and other oils in. So counterfeiting fancy cured meats and cheeses would make a lot of sense. The Albanians, Calabrians, Sicilians, Sardinians, and whomever else, it sounds right up their alley.
I know in the US liquor counterfeiting has long been a thing, mixing in rotgut booze into fancy bottles. Done by organized crime. People have this romanticized vision of organized crime because all of the movies. But truth be told, they are pieces of fucking shit. They are parasites, they make things cost more and work less well. You pay more for less, and people get hurt, so those that add no value can make money. With the exception of course of bootlegging around bans on substances, in which case they do provide a valuable service.
The problem with parm is that "fake parm" can just be literally the exact same product, but just made outside the borders of the legally defined region, or even made within the region with the same methods, but not under the control of "big cheese". It can still be a high quality product.
Counterfeit honey is a big problem. Honey is mostly glucose and fructose, which you can just buy. You can detect a lack of the pollen you'd expect in real honey, but that only makes it so that you can thin out real stuff. There's other methods to detect it, but it's on ongoing arms race. Buy honey from local beekeepers you trust, if you can. P.s., there idea that local honey helps with allergies is bunk because allergies are typically caused by windborne pollen, which bees dont collect.
Maple syrup has similar issues.
Seafood and truffles are commonly "fake", as in substituted with cheaper stuff.
Not "counterfeit", but a similar problem in Mexico is that the cartels have gotten into the avocado industry.
You just aren't allowed to call it literally "Parmigiano Reggiano", no one is stopping you from making it. "Reggiano" means "(of/from) Reggio (Emilia, a city)", I don't see why it's a problem to forbid calling it that if it's not made there-ish.
"Grana" is the generic name for that kind of cheese. Its use is not protected
I'm not making a moral statement on the rules. I was just pointing it out.
Also I believe "Parmigiano Reggiano" is a trademark name (i.e., protected) in the US and other non-EU countries, but other versions of the name, like "parmesan" are not. In the EU, you cannot call cheese "parmesan" unless it's parmigiano reggiano.
Despite the fact that grana padano is widely available in the US, the style is still just referred to as "parmesan" even if it's the notorious green cannister of pregrated "cheese".
I make maple syrup, and much of it has wildly different taste, the only ingredient is maple sap, but it doesn't all taste like the syrup in stores. I'm afraid when selling it I will be accused of faking it too, even though other producers will tell you that as well.
I do know someone that bought a gallon at a farmer's market that turned out to be some nasty corn syrup abomination, guy disappeared. As to fake honey, honey has a particular taste, as does maple syrup, even the stuff that's different, it's more than just sugar, just as you can't well fake fruit juice with sugar water. Mapoline is easily identifiable, I suspect honey would be the same, but I think your cases is probably more them mixing real honey with syrups and the like?
Because artificial flavors, known as natural flavors to the US government, (as they were naturally made in a lab from chemicals, after all isn't everything part of god's plan?) are a poor substitute for real ones, in my experience. Artificial strawberry, blueberry, Vanilla, mapoline, and so forth are all easily identifiable, and abominations to anyone used to the real thing.
From what I understand, they dont try to build syrup from scratch, it's more that they cut the real thing with sugar and water. According to wikipedia, maple syrup is basically 2/3rds sugar and 1/3rd water, with about 1% "other".
If you added the right proportion of sugar and water to real stuff in a 50:50 ratio, I'd have a really hard time distinguishing that from the natural variation in taste strength.
Luckily I have a steady supply from people I trust. I can't get enough of the stuff made over a wood fire.
It completely depends on the allergy
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7870997/
Just read the paper (well, skimmed is more honest). They cite 5 human trials. The first study was not blind, and it also did not show a difference between the control group and the treatment group. The "mini-review" author made it seem like there was an improvement to the honey group over the control, but this was not the case.
The second study, I can't access. The conditions were a bit more complicated, so I can't fully assess, but the "mini-review" author notes that they were also treated with olive oil and corticosteroids. Also, the group sizes were tiny (11 people split into 3 groups), which makes me highly suspicious of any statistically relevant effects. There's also no placebo.
The third study seems legit from a quick skim. They placebo controlled with flavored corn syrup. At the end of the study, the treatment group does not have a significantly different symptom score than the placebo group. The fact that both groups improve is again misinterpreted by the "mini-review" author. In their defense, the authors of that third study really wordsmith their abstract to make it read that way.
The forth and fifth study both show no improvement due to the treatment.
So 4/5 studies show no improvement over control/placebo, and the 5th study i can't read.
I did find a randomized, controlled study on birch honey which seems good, and it shows an improvement over a regular honey control. That's not in the minireview.
Overall, if there's 4 studies saying no, 1 saying yes, and 1 inconclusive, I'm going to take that as a no.
You ignored that the studies were all for different allergies… so you can’t just take 4 “nos” and 1 “yes” as a no for all.
Someone else already pointed it out with a credible source, but since you haven't edited your comment, I wanted to add another reply letting you know your "bunk" comment about allergies is wrong
Read my response to them. If you can find more randomized, controlled, human trials, I'd love to see them.
Why is it a problem? If you literally can't tell the difference, what is the problem?
If the fake product is literally indistinguishable, I don't think it's actually fake. It's the same product.
Like "fake" diamonds, which are actually literally better in every way.
‘Fake’ diamonds are not really fake, just synthetic, since they are chemically indistinguishable from real diamonds. Many (but not all) fake foods are not like this, since they have different core ingredients
Right, but in the case of honey, its (according to OP) not a different set of ingredients.
Similarly, parmezan cheese made outside the region can be literally the same, chemically exactly the same, but still fake, because of its origin. Just like diamonds.
If you make honey in a machine, and you can't tell the difference, is it not honey?
If it’s chemically indistinguishable from honey then I’d say yes it’s real honey. It might be preferable to real honey for the same reason lab grown meat is preferable to real meat.
Hehehe cheese joke heheh
sounds like corporations who are also just making the products.. not even talking about the bootlegged shit but the actual legit products. we pay more, for less.. they hurt/kill people, these companies don't add value to the world anymore. they are forcing costs to go up, while making the products also fail more so they work less well. Corporations are parasites