SAFETY AND QUALITY ALONG THE BUFFALO MILK AND CHEESE CHAIN.

The buffalo was introduced in Italy in the seventh century. It was a common animal among the families in the countryside and widely used as a draught animal in ploughing for watery terrains: its strength and the size of its hooves, which do not sink too deeply into puddles, were highly appreciated. Buffalo mozzarella cheese is not a recent product, the first references about cheese products made from buffalo milk date from the beginning of the twelfth century. At the beginning it was produced in small quantities but from the second half of the eighteenth century mozzarella became widespread throughout the South of Italy and its production increased more and more. The buffalo mozzarella is an unripened “pasta filata” cheese which may be obtained from raw or pasteurized whole buffalo milk and is manufactured according traditional procedures to guarantee the consumer its unique sensory characteristics. The production of “Mozzarella di Bufala Campana” is protected by a special Trade Organization that monitors the manufacturing process and marketing of the cheese in compliance with the production rules for the DOP (Protected Denomination of Origin) quality brand (EC Reg. 1107/96 L148/1). Milk contaminations may be due to clinical or sub-clinical mastitis and/or environmental contaminations taking place at different steps of the milk chain. Milk is a natural medium for microorganism replication and for this reason specific and hygienic procedures are required, frCheese-associated food poisoning outbreaks have been reported worldwide but are not common if pasteurized milk is used and hygienic measures are applied during cheese processing. Particular attention has been given to some milk-borne pathogens such as Salmonella spp, Listeria monocytogenes and E.coliom milking to delivering to the final consumer, to control hazards.