Italy’s food industry, already on the defensive over “inauthentic” spaghetti bolognese and Neapolitan pizza, was dealt a further blow yesterday when a scandal erupted over allegations that as much as a quarter of cheese sold as mozzarella contains cow’s rather than buffalo’s milk.
Luca Zaia, the Agriculture Minister, said he had disbanded the consortium of producers which guarantees buffalo mozzarella quality after routine inspections had shown that even mozzarella produced by Luigi Chianese, the consortium’s President, had been “watered down” with cow’s milk.
Industry sources said it was not clear if “fake” mozzarella containing cow’s milk had found its way onto the world market. 16 per cent of all mozzarella produced in Italy is exported, with most going to France (21 per cent), the United States (20 per cent), Germany (17 per cent) and Britain (16 per cent).
Mr Zaia, a member of the Noirthern League who has promoted Italian cuisine and campaigned against “ethnic” food outlets in Italan cities, claimed the move was not a blow to Italian agriculture but proof that rigorous controls were working. “Buffalo mozzarella from the Campania region remains of high quality, and consumers at home and abroad can continue eating without any worries,” he said.
He said there was no health risk, adding “It is not a question of food security so much as of respect for the rules of production”. However he had taken “urgent action” by placing the mozzarella consortium under “special administration” for three months while a committee of police and ministry inspectors investigated.
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He said he had acted “because the situation was deteriorating. Over the past two years my zero-tolerance policy has led to the discovery of many causes of food fraud. In November, checks in major supermarkets in Italy found that 25 per cent of the cheese sold as buffalo mozzarella was fake because it contained 30 per cent cow milk.”.
Mozzarella, made in the Campania region around Naples, is marketed with a DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) certificate of authenticity recognised by the European Union since 1996. It is usually eaten either on its own with tomatoes and basil in a Caprese salad, or as a key ingredient in Neapolitan pizza.
Under DOP rules mozzarella must be made exclusively from whole buffalo milk. The resulting cheese, rich in calcium, vitamins and protein, should ideally be eaten within two days of production. A total of 128 farms belong to the mozzarella consortium, with the sector generating a turnover of €300 million (£260.3 million) a year and employing 20,000 workers.
Mr Chianese said he was taking legal action against Mr Zaia for removing him instead of leaving him in office “pending further analyses”. He said he was the victim of “anonymous poison pen letters” denouncing alleged irregularities in his dairy company. Mr Zaia’s claim that as much as 25 per cent of mozzarella was adulterated was “an exaggeration”, and his own investigations suggested the real figure was closer to 3per cent, Mr Chianese said.
Mr Zaia insisted he was not “persecuting” Mr Chianese, who was free to “defend himself and his products in the appropriate forums”. He noted that had taken similar action over Brunello di Montalcino wine soon after taking office in the spring of 2008, following complaints in the United States that some Brunello vintages had been adulterated with inferior wines.
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Coldiretti, the farmers’ union, backed Mr Zaia, saying “the quality of DOP mozzarella has long been in doubt”. However Gianfranco Nappi, head of agriculture for the Campania region, said it was “unacceptable that through the fault of a few producers the entire structure should risk collapse”.
Two years ago sales of mozzarella fell after buffalo milk was found to be contaminated with high levels of dioxin from rotting piles of uncollected rubbish in the Naples area. Sixty-six buffalo herds were quarantined and over 100 farmers and dairy producers were investigated for alleged “fraud and food poisoning”. In April last year inspectors found that some buffalo in the Caserta area near Naples had been given somatropine, a human growth hormone, although officials said this did not pose a health risk.
Last weekend Coldiretti and a group of Italian chefs launched a worldwide campaign to defend “authentic” spaghetti bolognese against “imitations”. Coldiretti has also campaigned to “protect” the authenticity of other Italian dishes and food products such as pizza, pesto sauce and Parmesan cheese.