“...and has been crafted for over 900 years”
It’s a damn shame to see that cheese, my FAVORITE cheese, ending its near 1000 year run, all because of Universal Voting in the EU.
Very sorry, Sir, but nobody intends to stop the production of Parmesan cheese - least of all the Italians, most of whom are aware of the „gold made from ivory“, as a local poet once so mellifluously called the Parmigiano Reggiano.
Sixteen pounds of fresh, unpasteurized milk - and this has to come from cows which live in the vicinity of the city of Reggio n. E. where it is, and has to be, produced - are necessary to produce one single pound of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese!
It is, in its ingredients and all of its manufacturing processes, strictly protected as a „protected designation of origin“ (DOP - denominazione di origine protetta) under Italian national law, as well as EU laws.
It is protected even more strictly than its cheaper cousin, the Grana Padano cheese, which is also tasty, although many gourmets consider it a cheap alternative and not really „up to snuff“. (That may be true to some extent, but Grana Padano is, on the other hand, considerably cheaper than its more ancient, nobler cousin. However, if you are cooking and you have no genuine Parmigiano Reggiano at hand, there are much worse alternatives than Grana Padano 😃).
So, as they say, have no fear. Enjoy, and buon appetito, as the Italians say 😋
When the real Italians are all either extinct or Mohammedan, the distinctive cheeses will disappear as, eventually, will much of the population as the flatter parts of the country are converted to arid or semi arid sheep pasture and food production precipitously declines.