Buffalo mozzarella is increasingly taking the route of the online market. An opportunity with enormous growth margins, but also a "mined" ground due to the usual suspects ready to take advantage of the less informed customer.
It is a rapidly growing sector photographed by a recent study by the B2c eCommerce Observatory. In 2019, the Food&Grocery online market was close to 1,6 billion euros, recording a +39% compared to 2018. In Food&Grocery the main component (89% of the sector) is represented by food with a value of purchases of over 1,4 billion euros. The remaining 11% of the sector, equal to approximately 170 million euro, is linked to Health&Care.
But, as the director of the Protection Consortium points out of DOP Campania buffalo mozzarella, Pier Maria Saccani if «The diffusion of the web has had the great merit of promoting knowledge of PDO products, helping to increase the culture of quality agri-food, but on the other hand it is proving to be the new frontier of the crafty"
For this reason, the Protection Consortium has multiplied its controls on the internet and on social networks with a supervisory activity that is above all a guarantee for consumers".
The Consortium for the Protection of DOP Campania Buffalo Mozzarella has put in place a real task force to combat fraud right on the web. A group that actively cooperates with law enforcement and theCentral Inspectorate for Quality Protection and Fraud Repression of Agri-Food Products (ICQRF).
In the course of 2019 1218 checks were carried out online as part of the broader Supervisory activity that the Protection Consortium also implements offline. An increase in online inspections of +45% compared to 2018, testifying to how strategic the variegated world of online sales platforms is, and precisely for this reason in need of attention.
The inspection activity concerned the platforms most used in online sales (Amazon, Alibaba ed Ebay) but also the most used social media (Facebook e Instagram to name just two). The most widespread findings concern the improper use of the Campania buffalo mozzarella brand: from imitation and improper use, which have the effect of fraudulent evocation, up to the most serious cases of counterfeiting of the brand itself. Of the 18 joint operations with the police forces and ICQRF personnel, 11 started from web monitoring.
The President domenico raimondo adds: «In the new year we will increase investments in the surveillance sector, a decisive way to find imitations, evocations and usurpations of our product and also to protect our shareholders, who run the risk of having their market shares taken away by the many fakes around the world".
But how to recognize the DOP Campania buffalo mozzarella?
The Consortium has drawn up a useful memorandum to protect the consumer.
The DOP Mozzarella di Bufala Campana cheese, by law (Legislative Decree 109/92, art. 23), must be offered for sale only if pre-packaged at the origin (heat-sealed bags, trays, glasses, etc.).
Each package must bear the following indications:
• the trademarks of the Protection Consortium;
• PDO brands;
• denomination of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana;
• extremes of national law (DPCM 10/5/93) and community law (Reg. CE n.1107/96);
• authorization number of the dairy (AUT. CONSORZIO TUTELA N. 000/00/0000).
All the mozzarella placed on the market with the packaging bearing the denomination "Mozzarella di Bufala", "Mozzarella bufalina", etc., are NOT DOP certified and are denominations NOT permitted by law.
If the package is a knotted envelope, a guarantee seal affixed by the manufacturer must be present above the knot. Mozzarella in unsealed packs can easily be replaced with non-PDO mozzarella.
