The future of buffalo mozzarella cheese, one of the culinary world’s most prized products, was at stake last night after France and Singapore joined a ban on sales as tests were carried out at Italian farms for cancer-causing dioxins.

Fans of the delicacy, typically eaten with basil and tomatoes or on pizza, were facing a mounting crisis as Italy – home to the €300m (£240m) a year industry – announced a recall of products from 25 companies.

Brussels moved to dampen down fears of a full-blown health scare, insisting that the authorities were working hard to trace and control the contaminated cheese.

The French reaction was criticised as emotional by Italian producers who said that 83 buffalo farms in the south of the country had been quarantined, while the Food Standards Agency said that a supermarket ban in Britain was not necessary.

With Japan and South Korea already putting imports on hold, however, farmers in the Campania region remained nervous and sales plummeted in Italy. Investigations were continuing into whether the chronic waste disposal problem in Naples, linked to the local Mafia, led to illegal disposal of toxic material in the countryside, in turn passing into the animal food chain.

With dumps in the area full, locals have burnt or buried rubbish in the surrounding fields. Health officials said that industrial waste was also set ablaze, spreading fumes that in some cases contained toxic chemicals.

Italy produces around 33,000 tonnes of its trademark mozzarella from buffalo milk every year, with 16 per cent sold abroad, mostly in the European Union. France and Germany are the main importers but sales have been expanding in Japan and Russia.

France ordered its shops yesterday to stop selling mozzarella from the Campania region as a precautionary measure pending the outcome of further tests.

Rolando Manfredini, food safety expert at Coldiretti, the main farmers’ group in Italy, said: “France’s reaction is emotional. It follows the wave of emotional reactions in Japan and Korea.” Massimo D’Alema, the Italian Foreign Minister, said that there was a plan for detailed inspections in the provinces of Caserta, Avellino and Naples. “This is a limited phenomenon and once the [recall] measures are completed, we are convinced that we can restore confidence in the quality of a product that remains a symbol of Italian gastronomy,” he said.

The area’s continuing rubbish crisis is linked to illegal landfills operated by the Camorra, the Naples Mafia, which are said to have contaminated fruit and vegetables as well as the buffalo herds.

Prosecutors in Naples were reported to have placed 109 people under investigation on suspicion of fraud and food poisoning.

A spokeswoman for the European Commission said yesterday that EU officials were satisfied with promises received from Rome that all necessary safety checks were being conducted. This came as a relief to Italy after it was warned by the Commission on Thursday that further efforts were needed to avoid the prospect of an export ban. The spokeswoman added that, although levels of dioxin found in mozzarella samples were above the legal maximum, they were not excessive.

She added: “The Italian authorities have asked for our help in organising health and safety checks and tracing the cause of the outbreak.”

A spokeswoman for the Food Standards Agency said: “We are currently not aware of any contaminated buffalo mozzarella being distributed in the UK. However, we take any risk very seriously and are currently talking to Italian authorities about this issue.

“While routine testing of imported food should identify any problems, the Italian authorities have instigated a sampling programme on mozzarella from the region and will inform us of any contaminated products.”

History of the buffalo cheese

— Mozzarella di bufala, made using buffalo milk, has traditionally been produced in seven provinces in central and southern Italy: Caserta and Salerno provinces, and parts of Benevento, Naples, Frosinone, Latina and Rome

— The word is thought to derive from mozzare – Italian for “to cut off” – after the action of the cheese-makers as they cut mozzarella paste with forefinger and thumb. The term mozzarella first appeared in 1570, in a recipe book written by Bartolomeo Scappi, a cook at the papal court

— The buffalo herds providing milk for mozzarella production have caught the eye of several writers, including Goethe, who wrote of encounters with “buffalos that look like hippopotamus, with their wild and bloodshot eyes”

— Besides being used in pizza, pasta and meat dishes, or eaten alone, mozarrella is the chief ingredient in insalata caprese, a salad that also includes tomatoes, basil and olive oil

— Indications of fresh, good-quality mozzarella are a smooth, tight surface and elastic texture. There should be no spots or marks on the cheese, and once sliced it should secrete milky whey and have a grainy surface

Sources: www.mozzarelladibufala.org, mozzarelladop.it

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