One in four mozzarella cheeses made from foreign milk products, Italy says

National farmers' organisation sounds the alarm after more than three tons of foreign curds are seized in Puglia.
It is one of Italy’s signature food products but a quarter of the mozzarella sold in the nation’s supermarkets and delicatessens is produced from foreign-made, industrially produced curds.
The alarm was raised by Coldiretti, a national food producers’ organisation, after 3.5 tonnes of curds from Ireland and Germany were seized from a manufacturer in the southern region of Puglia.
Police confiscated the product after finding that it was being kept in unhygienic conditions and bore no indication of where it had come from.
“With an increase in these types of scams and frauds, there is no time to lose to save the ‘Made in Italy’ brand,” said Roberto Moncalvo, the president of Coldiretti.
He said that all milk and milk products should be marked clearly with their origin “to guarantee transparency of information and to safeguard the health of consumers”.
Curds are obtained by 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.
Mozzarella producers in Italy have been caught up in numerous scandals in the past few years.
Factories have been shut down and owners arrested after it was found that they were using cheaper cow’s milk instead of buffalo milk to make the creamy cheese.
In 2010 the Italian authorities had to issue a Europe-wide alert about possible contamination after balls of the cheese turned a startling blue.
The oddly-coloured mozzarella was nicknamed by the Italian media “Smurf cheese”.
Police seized 70,000 mozzarella balls from supermarkets after consumers from around the country said that as soon as they slit open the plastic packets encasing the cheese, it changed colour.
In 2008 police investigated reports that some cheese was being made with milk contaminated by the carcinogenic chemical compound dioxin.
It was thought the chemical originated from tainted feedstock supplied by the Camorra, which is heavily involved in the illegal burning of waste around Naples.

Resource: http://www.telegraph.co.uk