Over the centuries, Parmigiano Reggiano has not changed the basic production methods: today, as in the Middle Ages, production takes place naturally, without additives. At the beginning of the 1900s, however, some important innovations were introduced, still current, such as the use of whey grafting and steam heating.
On July 27, 1934, the representatives of the dairies of Parma, Reggio, Modena, Mantua (right Po), agreed on the need to approve a mark of origin for their cheese.
In the 1992 the EEC Regulation 2081/1992 on Protected Designations of Origin is approved, the PDO (later supplemented by Regulation (EEC) 510/2006): in 1996, Parmigiano Reggiano was recognized as a European PDO: fundamental steps for the Community protection of Parmigiano Reggiano, which is among the most counterfeited and imitated cheeses in the world.
Parmigiano Reggiano must bear on the outside of the wheel the marks in their entirety to identify and distinguish the product. A necessary combination for the production of this cheese are stable meadows and cattle breeding.
The marks of origin, affixed to the birth of the cheese, are:
• the signs stamped with the marking band along the entire side of the wheel, which show the dots with the inscription ” PARMIGIANO REGGIANO“, the serial number of the dairy, the month and year of production, the inscription “ D.O.P.”, the inscription “CONSORZIO TUTELA”;
• the casein plate, applied on the surface, bears the inscription “C.F.P.R.”, and an alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies each individual shape.
• on both sides of the wheels produced with Rossa Reggiana milk, there is, hot-stamped, the inscription “Vacca Rossa Reggiana” of that animal.
