Italy: mozzarella menaced | France 2 | Envoyé Spécial

“Mozzarella di buffala” is a rare and expensive cheese from the heart of the Campania, a region in southern Italy. The “true” mozzarella has been produced at the foot of Vesuvius for centuries. It is the naturally sweet milk of the young buffalo that gives it its inimitable taste, both sweet and sour. Today it is exported throughout the world.In France sales rise by 40% in summer. How do you choose the right mozzarella? What are the secrets of its production? Is it safe to eat it? For Campania is one of the most polluted regions in Italy, rocked over the last few weeks by the dioxin contamination scandal.At the end of March, Europe, led by France, sounded the alarm: certain mozzarellas have levels of dioxin far above the norms. There’s talk of a possible embargo. The Italians are reassuring: no, mozzarella is not dangerous. And to prove it, the Italian Minister of Agriculture gobbles some down for the cameras. He promises to inspect all the cheese production facilities in the country.What’s the situation with these inspections today? How are producers under sequestration living through the crisis? What links are there between dioxin and the waste that for years has been illegally dumped in the region, right under the benevolent eyes of the local mafia, the Camorra?