Italy on Wednesday sought to calm consumers’ fears over the safety of its prized buffalo mozzarella after Japan followed South Korea in banning imports of the cheese due to concerns that high levels of dioxin had been found in samples of milk in southern Italy.
The European Commission has asked Italy to provide information by Thursday on tests of buffalo herds in the Naples area.
Antonella Rebuzzi, an Italian senator from the centre-right opposition who runs a chain of Italian restaurants in Moscow, told the Financial Times that she knew of trucks carrying Italian foodstuffs blocked at the border with Russia because of the health scare. Italian officials said they had no knowledge of such moves.
Despite Rome’s safety assurances and denials that Asian countries had banned Italian cheese imports, the Campania region around Naples appears to be heading for its worst economic crisis since Europe’s last cholera scare occurred in the city in 1973.
Many Italians have avoided food products from Campania since the latest episode in Naples’ long-running rubbish crisis erupted in December. Tourism has also plummeted.
Officials deny the dioxin levels are linked to the piles of rubbish in the suburbs of Naples and the adjoining province of Caserta.
However, government-backed investigations have drawn a link between higher rates of cancer and mortality in areas of Caserta with illegal toxic waste dumps that had been under the control of the local mafia, known as the Camorra.
Japan is particularly sensitive to threats of food contamination after a series of safety breakdowns and scandals. In the most serious incident, at least 10 people fell ill after eating Chinese-made frozen dumplings that were found to have been contaminated with pesticide.
Italian officials confirmed that Japan’s health ministry had requested more information on quarantined dairies.
“If they can tell us which specific products are dangerous then we would be able to lift the ban immediately,” a Japanese health ministry official said.
The Campania buffalo mozzarella producers association said all herds were routinely checked and 83 farms with dioxin above permitted levels were quarantined.
Italian officials insisted that, while a few products had been taken off the market following recent tests for dioxin, no contaminated cheese had been exported.
Officials also disputed statements from Japan and South Korea declaring that Italian buffalo mozzarella had been blocked at customs points and ports for several days.
“There is no ban” in Asia, Saverio Cotticelli, commander of a police food safety division, told reporters in Rome.
Paolo de Castro, minister for agriculture, said Italy had stringent controls on food exports. He said Italy did not export buffalo mozzarella to South Korea, suggesting that “fake” mozzarella from other countries had been stopped.
“Campania does not have a problem of unsafe food,” he said at a ministerial crisis meeting.
Last year, the region produced 35,000 tonnes of certified buffalo mozzarella, of which 16 per cent was exported, including 300 tonnes to Japan.
The buffalo cheese is a more expensive, richer, creamier variety of the cow’s mozzarella that more often ends up on pizzas.
