Foreign curd causes another mozzarella indignity

Italy has been known to lash out at foreign companies which imitate any of its delicacies, but is no stranger to scandals in its own production.

Concern has been raised about the making of mozzarella cheese after police seized 3.5 tonnes of poorly preserved curd from a manufacturer in the southern region of Puglia.

They confiscated the ingredient after finding that it was not protected in hygienic conditions and that its origin was not stated. It is believed the curd came from Germany and Ireland and had been produced industrially.

The national farming organisation, Coldiretti, went public on the matter.

Its head, Roberto Moncalvo, called for urgent action to protect the reputation of Mozzarella, one of Italy’s signature offerings.

“Given these new frauds and scams there’s no time to waste in saving [the reputation of] ‘made in Italy’ and it must be made obligatory right away to indicate the origins of dairy products in order to guarantee transparency and health of consumers,” he said.

He said that using imported curd instead of home-produced milk would not only make second-quality cheese but would “distort the market, depress prices paid to Italian farmers and force farm closures”.

Curd results from coagulating milk, either by adding rennet, a complex of enzymes produced in animals’ stomachs, or an edible acidic liquid such as vinegar or lemon juice.

The best quality mozzarella is made from buffalo milk. It is DOP protected and subjected to regular inspections. Factories have been closed and owners arrested after it was discovered that cow’s milk was used instead of buffalo milk.

In 2008, dioxins were detected in the buffalo milk of some local dairies. The carcinogenic chemicals were thought to be present in the soil and the grass eaten by the buffalo.

One theory is that it was a result of the illegal dumping of toxic waste, an activity that nets the Camorra mafia hundreds of millions of euros a year. Another that it could have come from tainted feedstock supplied by the Camorra, which is heavily involved in the illegal burning of waste around Naples.

And in 2010, Italian authorities issued a Europe-wide alert over possible contamination after balls of the cheese turned blue as soon as the packet was opened. Police seized 70,000 mozzarella balls from supermarkets.

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