REGGIO-EMILIA, Italy - Inspector Giorgio Capovani laid out his array of cheese impostors.
A wedge of "Parmesansan" made in Lithuania, a container of "Parmazano Fiorentino" produced in Britain and labelled "dairy free," a chunk of German "Parmezano" sold in Mexico.
The motley assortment of long-expired cheese products he keeps in a refrigerator is proof that rip-offs know no borders nor limits to the imagination. And it's not just cheese. Hams too can be suspect. And basil. And vinegar.
Capovani, whose rotund belly could rival a huge wheel of the cheese officially titled Parmigiano-Reggiano, belongs to a growing breed of food detectives sought out by producers of Italian foods that have earned prestigious European Union protection.
"A museum of a hundred fakes," is the way Capovani proudly describes his collection of counterfeit cheeses.
"We have a network of salesman informants who keep a sharp eye on the competition," he said.
In the Wild West of gastronomical rip-offs, men like Capovani are a kind of sheriff. They are sworn judicial officers who can demand admission to premises, examine documentation and confiscate products at wholesalers' warehouses or supermarket aisles.
"We can even carry firearms, although we don't," said another food detective, Domenico D'Aniello.
European Union protection, indicated by the alphabet-soup designations DOP and IGP, has been granted to some of Italy's best-known products, including Bufala Mozzarella, Parma prosciutto, balsamic vinegar from Modena, San Marzano tomatoes and Gorgonzola cheese.
Across Europe, dozens of food products - from Greek feta cheese to Britain's Jersey Royal potatoes - enjoy EU trademark protection. But in Italy producers have proved particularly fastidious about hunting down counterfeiters.
After all, gourmet foods are one of Italy's biggest industries.
Paolo Facioni, a spokesman for the Italian farm lobby Coldiretti, said DOP and IGP products account for some $14 billion in annual sales - but the figure would be much higher if consumers always bought the real thing.
DOP applies to products whose qualities depend essentially on the territory, including climate, where they are produced. Production must also follow stern rules.
IGP is slightly less rigid. It requires that at least one phase of production take place in a particular geographic area.
Late last year, authorities seized some 1,000 hams in warehouses and supermarkets throughout Italy. The haul may have just been the tip of the iceberg: Investigators say there's no way of telling just how many hams had already vanished into stomachs in the guise of the coveted Parma or San Daniele varieties in the massive DOP scam.
Investigators suspect at least some of the ham was sent from abroad to deboning plants, where they were falsely branded as DOP. Accused in the case are six Italians, including two from the northern town of Ferrara, where police say blacksmiths forged machines to brand hams with the DOP prosciutto trademark of a five-pointed crown.
Criminal complaints have been lodged, but the suspects remain free; they could face fines or even jail time if convicted, police said.
Food detective D'Aniello, a specialist in Parma prosciutto, worked closely with the food fraud unit of the paramilitary Carabinieri police, and his sleuthing took him on a trail of fake hams from Rovigo in northern Italy to Palma di Montechiaro, a tiny town in Sicily.
