A batch of about 70,000 mozzarella balls which turned blue upon opening has been confiscated by food authorities in Italy, officials say.
The health ministry said it had activated the European “rapid alert” system to warn of possible contamination, and announced emergency control measures on the cheese.
The cheese – made in Germany for an Italian company – has been removed from shelves and samples sent for testing.
Mozzarella is Italy’s favourite cheese. About 60% of Italians regularly eat the soft, white cheese, according to the Italian farmers’ group, Coldiretti.
The tainted mozzarella was spotted by a shopper in Turin, who noticed it take on a bluish tint when it was exposed to the air.
The woman then called the police, national media reported.
- BBC News
6 Comments
Italians take bad food seriously. They call the cops.
Bravo Italianos, say I.
I do wonder – how blue did the mozarella turn? A peacock blue tinge would have been very disquieting, for example.
The Danish eat blue cheese all the time.
Yes they do, but it generally is stable in its colour. They also eat rollmops. . .
I wonder, there was a mastitis dye that was blue to indicate a cow that should be excluded from milk production due to the medication they were receiving. . .
Ah, but Danish Blue Cheese is expected to be blue. And it’s tasty. By contrast, I’m not much of a fan of rollmops (although I have eaten them to be polite).
Grendel, that’s an interesting point. Having suffered from mastitis in the past, I feel sorry for the poor cow if she did have mastitis!
I think that the Italians are comfortable with the idea of blue cheese. I have this funny feeling that Gorgonzola might be Italian, for example.
But they are very sensitive about their mozzarella. Not long ago there was concern that the Buffalo near Naples (who make the real mozzarella) were going to be wiped out after a couple of herds caught some bug.
So that makes this more explicable perhaps.