Italy roiled by a cheese scare

De Castro and other officials insisted that no contaminated cheese was exported. Meanwhile, domestic sales of buffalo mozzarella have fallen by 30% since the scare started two months ago, with a reported loss of $50 million in revenue. Mozzarella cheese is often advertised in stores here as being from Puglia, a region adjacent to Campania.

Mozzarella is best known to American consumers as a highly meltable cheese good on pizzas and salads. Italians eat entire baseball-sized globes of mozzarella, uncooked, sliced and accompanied by tomatoes and fresh basil or prosciutto.

A consortium of Italy's top buffalo mozzarella producers took out full-page advertisements in national newspapers last week to defend their product. The producers said they follow a series of rigorous quality-control measures to qualify for a rating reserved for the top brands, known as DOP.

"Considering these norms, buffalo milk -- before being transformed -- is placed under the most stringent health and chemical controls that guarantee the safety and quality of Campania's DOP buffalo mozzarella," the ad said.

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wilkinson@latimes.com