July 21, 2012

Italy's 'Mozzarella King' arrested over 'contaminated cheese'



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9406507/Italys-Mozzarella-King-arrested-over-contaminated-cheese.html

Giuseppe Mandara, whose mozzarella is sold by British supermarkets and UK-based online food suppliers, was also accused of producing batches contaminated with ceramic shards from a faulty machine.

Investigators said his Mandara Group had received significant injections of cash from the Camorra mafia, the organised crime group based in Campania, the region where mozzarella is produced.

Police seized assets worth more than £78 million, including the company.

They said the 56 year-old, who once described himself as the “Armani of mozzarella”, had struck up a secret commercial relationship with the Casalesi clan of the Camorra in the 1980s after he ran into financial difficulties.

The clan is based in and around the town of Casal di Principe, at the heart of a region famous for its mozzarella, which is produced from the milk of domesticated buffalo.

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