Italian mozzarella makers blue again

Italian mozzarella makers have increased their demand for revised EU labelling rules giving plainer indication of the country of origin. The background is the “blue mozzarella scandal”, which was reported in Dairy Industries International in 2010. This concerned cheeses sold in the Frosinone region of Italy that turned blue when the packaging was opened. Embarrassing for the Italian retailers: it turned out the mozzarella had been produced from German cow milk and packaged in Bavaria. Laboratory inspections revealed that the colouring was caused by fluorescent bacteria, probably present in the mozzarella packaging brine, Pseudomonas tolaasii and P. libanensis. Apart from the resulting surprising colour, the bacteria are regarded as harmless and can be found in non-sterile or unfiltered water almost everywhere. But such pasta filata cheeses are mostly meant to be snow white. The dairy involved put in water filters and the problem disappeared.

Now local press in Frosinone announce that the problem of blue mozzarella has returned. And, yes, it appears the resulting colourful cheese comes once again from north of the Alps. Such cow milk mozzarella usually sells well in Italian supermarkets simply because it’s cheaper than the Italian output.