ITALY’S NAS POLICE COMMANDER, SAVERIO COTICELLI, CLARIFIES THAT THERE IS, “NO BAN ON MOZZARELLA, IT’S ONLY MEDIA HYPE”

“There is no ban” by Asian countries or South Korea on the importation of Mozzarella di bufala, “nor are there quantities of mozzarella blocked at Japanese customs”. These were the recent confirmations made by NAS police commander, Saverio Cotticelli, during a summit organized by the Italian Health Ministry in regards to the scare of dioxins present in mozzarella produced in the Campania region – the same region that was recently plagued by the collapse of a corrupt waste removal system that left the area’s citizens wading through mountains of their own uncollected garbage for months. According to Cotticelli, the scare is just, in fact, media hype and exaggerated alarmism.

But, in the meantime, the international press has also picked up on the story and, in newspapers like the New York Times, scathing reports on the lack of governmental controls on illegal waste dumping in areas like the Campania region appear to have caused problems like the dioxin contamination of one of Italy’s tastiest delicacies, buffalo mozzarella.

The news agency Reuter’s also pointed the blame at mafia control and corruption in Italian waste management, which has too long been left unchecked.

The issue has even become an important topic for the upcoming general elections in Italy with left and right candidates using the issue as a campaign banner.

However, according to the current Foreign Affairs Minister, Massimo d’Alema, the mozzarella alarm is, “excessive and without motive”. Official controls of 132 buffalo mozzarella producers have revealed “traces of dioxins in only 9 cases”. Thus, Minister d’Alema concludes that all of the alarm is truly excessive. The minister also noted, however, that this problem may not just be a problem that exists solely in Campania, but, regardless, the risks for people are very minimal and the issue, “should not be used for campaigning purposes”.

Whether the contamination is real or not, the Campania region has registered a 40% decline in mozzarella acquisitions in Italy, an alarming decrease considering the region’s tourist industry was also recently hard hit because of the garbage crisis. It was even forced to install a special tourist consultant, Claudio Velardi, to help tour operators to start offering Campania as a tourist destination again now that the “garbage emergency” has been put under control.