Italy recalls contaminated mozzarella cheese

ROME (Reuters) -
Italy ordered a recall on Friday of
mozzarella cheese potentially contaminated with cancer-causing
dioxin, as a widening health scare tainted the reputation of
one of its best-known culinary products.

Italy%26#39;s Health Ministry said it was withdrawing products
from 25 companies in Campania region, where Italy%26#39;s best
buffalo mozzarella is produced.

News of the recall came moments after France joined a small
group of nations that have decided to halt sales of some
Italian mozzarella, despite Italy%26#39;s assurances that none of the
suspect cheese was exported. Japan and South Korea had already
stopped imports.

The European Commission, which had previously threatened a
trade ban unless Rome acted more aggressively, said it was
satisfied with Italy%26#39;s latest effort to contain the scare.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D%26#39;Alema played down the
health risks even as he announced a recall affecting an
industry which employs 20,000 people and is worth about 300
million euros (%26#36;475 million) a year.

"This is a limited phenomenon and once the (recall)
measures are completed, we%26#39;re convinced that we can restore
confidence in the quality of a product that remains a symbol of
Italian gastronomy," he said.

In Brussels, the European Commission said Italy had also
pledged to carry out "constant monitoring" of production sites
to ensure no further cases of mozzarella cheese were found with
dioxin levels exceeding the EU%26#39;s maximum permitted levels.

"Taking into account the information that was given today,
there is no reason at this stage to take further action at EU
level," said Nina Papadoulaki, Commission health spokeswoman.

GARBAGE CRISIS

Italian health officials believe the dioxin is linked to a
recent garbage crisis in Naples and the surrounding Campania
region.

With dumps in the area full, locals burned piles of rubbish
in the streets and in open fields. Health officials say
industrial waste was also set ablaze, spreading fumes that in
some cases contained dioxin, a toxic chemical.

The bad publicity has made some Italian consumers wary. One
mozzarella dealer in Rome said sales to hotels and restaurants
had fallen by half.

"We are at the historical minimum level of sales," said
dealer Paolo Micocci, comparing the mozzarella scare to panic
over mad cow disease and bird flu.

"Scares have hit cows, then fish with mercury, then
chicken. ... Now, it%26#39;s our turn. We%26#39;ll hang in there."

Italy produces about 33,000 tonnes of buffalo mozzarella a
year, with 16 percent of it sold abroad, mostly in the European
Union. France and Germany are the major importers but sales
have been expanding to other countries, including Japan and
Russia.

France ordered its shops on Friday to stop selling all
mozzarella cheese from Italy%26#39;s Campania region, saying it was
"as a precautionary measure" pending further tests.

But German authorities said no such move was necessary
since Italian authorities had assured them that none of the
affected mozzarella from Campania was exported to EU countries.

Italy%26#39;s biggest farmers%26#39; group Coldiretti criticized
France, saying the health scare was based on emotion, not
science.

"France%26#39;s reaction is emotional. It follows the wave of
emotional reactions in Japan and Korea," said Rolando
Manfredini, food safety expert at Coldiretti.

(Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Paris, Jeremy
Smith in Brussels, Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Roberto Landucci
and Antonio Denti in Rome, and Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan,
editing by Mary Gabriel)