Mozzarella di Bufala Campana

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana , buffalo mozzarella , is an Italian cheese product made from water buffalo milk that is traditionally made in Campania , but today also in other regions of southern Italy. The term mozzarella is derived from the production method: the individual portions are separated from the cheese mass using the “mozzatura” (“chopping off, cutting off by hand”). It is produced in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno as well as in some municipalities of the metropolitan city of Naples and the provinces of Benevento , Frosinone , Latina , Isernia and Foggia .

history

The buffalo mozzarella probably originally comes from Aversa , the first Norman county in Italy. The first surviving document mentioning Aversa mozzarella dates back to the beginning of the 15th century. Allegedly, the monks of the abbey "San Lorenzo ad Septimum" at the gates of Aversa offered the members of the chapter , who carried out an annual procession there, a "mozza" (cut piece) of the cheese with a piece of bread.

The Normans give some assumptions regarding the origin of mozzarella as its inventor . According to other sources, it was the Anjou . ^{( Evidence? )}

Since the 1990s, the EC regulation ensures. No. 1107/96 granted DOP recognition, the quality of cheese marketed under the name Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and also defines the area in which it may be produced.

A larger variant of the cheese is called Mozzarellone Aversane ("large mozzarella from Aversa").

Mozzarella crisis 2007

According to a report in the daily La Repubblica, a large amount of the expensive buffalo mozzarella is the result of fraud and forgery by the mafia . After the authorities tightened controls on the breeding farms in 2007, tens of thousands of buffalos infected with brucellosis bacteria were discovered, especially in the province of Caserta . A health risk for consumers was that the cheese produced according to the DOP specification was only processed at temperatures of 33 to 36 degrees, but the brucellosis pathogens are only rendered harmless when heated to 71.7 degrees. Stricter controls by a newly opened institute for food safety in the province of Caserta are intended to ensure the quality of the cheese.

A total of 32,000 infected animals were counted; in 2007 there were around 400,000 water buffalos in Italy. The sick buffalo should now be slaughtered. In order to break the resistance of the animal owners, the government's special commissioner, Andrea Cozzolino, received 66 million euros for their compensation. The Turin daily La Stampa blames the rule of the Camorra for the extent of the epidemic : "A large part of the farms in Caserta is controlled directly or indirectly by the Camorra, which has so far prevented the disease from being eradicated". For example, the Camorra threatened vets, falsified test results and hid sick buffalo. The responsible judge Antonio Pepe has already arrested several breeders and veterinarians.

Mozzarella crisis 2008

In March 2008, another scandal shook confidence in the quality of the cheese. During controls, the permissible limit values for dioxins were slightly exceeded in 25 of 170 cheese dairies around Naples . As a result, on March 24, South Korea and, one day later, Japan also imposed an import ban on buffalo mozzarella, although Japan asked for a list of the companies concerned so that other producers could import them. Sales fell by 35 percent in the previous two months. Experts suspect that the animals may have eaten the contaminated grass near illegal landfills. Pictures showing buffalo grazing in the garbage have been shown on YouTube . Since the garbage business is controlled by the Camorra clans , there was no incineration plant in the Campania region until 2008 and only five plants in the entire Mezzogiorno , so household and hazardous waste is illegally buried or piled up.

livestock farming

In September 2014 the animal welfare organization Vier Pfoten reported on suspected scandalous conditions on numerous buffalo farms in Campania. Representatives of the organization had visited some farms and reported on male calves that cannot give milk and are therefore killed, adult buffalo with injuries, animals that are up to their knees in their own droppings and buffaloes that have no access to have clean drinking water. Vier Pfoten also criticizes the keeping of buffalo in hot and humid regions like in Campania, as the animals have thicker skin with fewer sweat glands and it is more difficult for them to regulate their body temperature. The animals need the option of a mud bath or a water spray system, which very few farms are equipped with. The animal welfare organization demands minimum standards that go beyond EU legislation.

Research by the Italian Corpo Forestale , which was responsible for compliance with animal welfare regulations, confirms the abuses in keeping the buffalo, including illegal buffalo cemeteries with rotting animals.

Web links

Commons : Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Mozzarella di Bufala Campana (Consortium for the protection of buffalo mozzarella from Campania)
Interesting facts about buffalo mozzarella . der-kaese.de

Individual evidence

↑ Aree Di Produzione ( Areas of Origin). mozzarelladop.it (Italian), listing of the regions and provinces in which buffalo mozzarella may be produced; accessed on September 6, 2015.

↑ The mafia dominates the economy . In: Handelsblatt , October 23, 2007.

↑ After the rubbish misery, now the mozzarella crisis . In: Der Standard , January 29, 2008.

↑ Mozzarella misery . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 20, 2008.

↑ La strage delle bufale . (The massacre of the buffalo) In: La Stampa , January 17th, 2008 “ … gran parte degli allevamenti di Caserta, direttamente o indirettamente, sono controllati dai clan della camorra. ”

↑ Italy: Mozzarella crisis caused by sick buffalo . In: Die Presse , January 29, 2008.

↑ ^a ^b Michael Braun: Mozzarella with aftertaste . In: taz , March 27, 2008.

↑ Mozzarella alarm. Italy warns of psychosis . dpa / n-tv , March 27, 2008

^ Poison in Mozzarella: The aftermath of Naples' garbage crisis . In: Die Presse , March 26, 2008.

↑ Buffalo on the Garbage Pasture , Die Zeit , April 5, 2008

↑ Thesy Kness-Bastaroli: Garbage in Naples . In: Der Standard , January 11, 2008.