Buffalo Mozzarella

Protected designation of Origin

Certification

Protected Designation of Origin
The D.O.P. (Protected Designation of Origin) Certification was born in 1992 as an effect of the 2018/92 CEE Regulation by the European Community. It’s a certification at the consumer’s advantage, that imposes a series of controls and regulations to follow during the production process: origin, source of the raw materials, localization and tradition in the production process.

D.O.P. certified products offer:

  1. Reliability, as these products are regulated by italian and community laws.

  2. Trackability, as these products come from a defined area.

  3. Bond with the land, as these products are obtained through traditional methods, they present specific characteristics stemming from an intimate connection with the territories and their unique geological, agronomical and climatic characteristics.

  4. Uniqueness, as in respect of the traditional production and fabrication process that preserve the product’s uniqueness.


In order to receive this naming, two fundamental conditions must apply, specified in art. 2 of the Regulation: Specific qualities and characteristics of the product must be owed, exclusively or essentially, to the geographic environment of the place of origin.

With “geographic environment” the law refers to both natural and human factors, as in the local know-how and techniques. -The production of the raw materials and their transformations into the final product must happen in the defined region from which the product takes the name.

Buying a D.O.P. product we are sure of the origin of its ingredients: this information is important for those products whose qualities are, for many reasons, sensible to this factor (ie. Extra-virgin olive oil). Every D.O.P. product, to become such, must respect a production discipline that ties all the steps in production and transformation.

Buffalo Mozzarella
A decree by the italian Ministry of Agriculture (July 21st, 1998) forbids the use of the naming “mozzarela di bufala” (even without the add of the adjective “campana”) for any pulled-curd cheese derived from buffalo milk that are not subject to the D.O.P. regulation. These can be only called “mozzarella” for sale purposes together with the terms “di latte di bufala” (“made from buffalo milk”), at the condition that these terms are written in the same font size, and “latte di bufala” must be preceded by a fantasy name, or the name, business name or trademark of the producer. This applies even if the product is entirely made of whole buffalo milk, with no addition of milk from other animals, as long as the milk comes from the towns listed in the 05/10/1993 DPCM. Therefore, there’s a difference between "mozzarella di bufala" (buffalo mozzarella) and mozzarella di latte di bufala (mozzarella made from buffalo milk). There is a commercial fraud liability if a mozzarella is qualified as “bufala campana D.O.P.” (buffalo mozzarella) if it’s been produced, as a whole or in part, with frozen buffalo milk instead of fresh, as it is considered mandatory, for this kind of food, the exclusive use of fresh milk, as stated in art. 3 of the production regulations approved via the cited DPCM from 1993, in the comma that states “the milk must be delivered to the cheese factory withing the sixteenth hour after the milking”.
BRC Certification
The BRC global standard for agri-food safety is one of the operational tools used for due diligence (ie to be able to demonstrate that all reasonable measures have been taken to avoid an accident or damage) and to select suppliers of the agri-food chain.

This approach reduces the overall costs of supply chain management and at the same time increases the level of security for customers, suppliers and consumers.

Considered by now a necessary requirement to operate in the sector, this standard is also a great opportunity to demonstrate the company's continuous commitment to safety, quality and compliance with the rules governing the agri-food sector.

The certification according to the BRC global standard for agro-food safety meets the criteria established by the CIES Global Food Safety Initiative - The Food Business Forum, the international organization with the participation of CEOs and top executives of nearly 400 retailers (with almost 200,000 points of sale) ) and producers of all sizes. This is a standard accepted by the majority of agri-food retailers, in line with other industry standards such as IFS, SQF and FSCC 22000.

The requisite requirements refer to the quality management systems, to the HACCP methodology, to a set of GMP requirements (Good Manufacturing Practice), GLP (Good Laboratory Practice) and GHP (Good Hygiene Practice).

Caseificio Corvino on 29th January 2018 has obtained the BRC certification for the production of buffalo mozzarella from Campania, ricotta and smoked provola
Download Certificate