As Italy’s trash crisis continues, the spread of the smell of toxic trash has spread to the world famous mozzarella cheese of the region.

From the NY Times:

In the last few months, sales of buffalo mozzarella have dropped 40 percent, the product’s trade association says. The problem makes for a near-perfect morality play about Italy: For years, the nation’s paralyzed political class has done little to halt huge-scale illegal dumping of trash, some of it toxic, around Naples. That area happens to produce some of the best mozzarella.

A new trash crisis peaked yet again, and last week fears that food might be contaminated seemed confirmed when health officials announced elevated levels of the carcinogen dioxin in samples of buffalo mozzarella. Last weekend, South Korea banned imports of the cheese, and Italy began scrambling to avoid deep damage to one of its most emblematic products.

The residents of Naples believe that organized crime and illegal dumping of trash has led them to this situation.

From Reuters:

Residents blame the crisis on ineffective and corrupt politicians and businesses, and on gangland criminals who make fortunes out of waste transport and illegal disposal.

Prodi said a short-term solution would be to truck Naples’ waste to other parts of the country, a policy which would be resented by some in the rich north. Long-term, the region will have three incinerators, he said.

Illegal dumping and burning is blamed for poisoning the soil, water and air of large zones around the base of Mount Vesuvius and causing high instances of some forms of cancer.

Illegal Trash Dumping is a $11 billion market.