Concerns resurface over Italian mozzarella as farms quarantined

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

ROME (AFP) — Health concerns over Italian mozzarella cheese resurfaced on Tuesday as more than 100 buffalo farms around Naples were quarantined amid fears of potential dioxin contamination, the government said.

"The 102 potentially contaminated buffalo farms were placed under sanitary quarantine," the health and agriculture ministries said in a joint statement.

Serious concerns over Italian mozzarella first emerged in mid-March when samples of the cheese, made from buffalo milk, were found to have raised levels of dioxin, which increases the likelihood of cancer.

A total of 83 buffalo farms in the southern region were quarantined then. Of those, 20 were found to have higher than approved dioxin levels.

A crisis was averted then after Italy recalled...