Overview
- Fact checks from multiple news outlets confirmed that social media posts claiming a “Great Parmesan Crisis” were false and exaggerated the threat to cheese and storage banks.
- Magazini Generali delle Tagliate (MGT) said its two warehouses and the roughly 500,000 Parmigiano Reggiano wheels it stores, worth about €300 million, are operating normally.
- MGT reported that extreme heat has pushed cooling energy use up about 30 percent and that the company has recently upgraded refrigeration, improved insulation, and installed about 1.5 MW of solar capacity.
- The Parmigiano Reggiano consortium warned that heatwaves can reduce milk yields by around 10 percent but stated that production is not currently at risk and that farms use fans, misting and preserved feed to protect cows.
- Because several banks accept aging wheels as loan collateral, higher cooling bills and persistent climate stress could raise costs for producers and lenders and pose longer-term risks to supply if heat and drought continue.