Swiss Combat Counterfeit Cheese With DNA Fingerprinting

Swiss cheesemakers’ weapon against forgeries is housed at minus 80 degrees Celsius (minus 112 Fahrenheit) in a Bern freezer. It’s here where scientists keep 10,000 strains of milk bacteria to guard against copycats.

The country’s cheese industry, worth 604 million Swiss francs ($659 million) in exports last year, has turned to DNA fingerprinting to fight counterfeits, which Emmental producers estimate have cost them as much as 20 million francs.