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SIMPLE SUMMARY: Buffalo mozzarella cheese, sold as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product, is made exclusively from Mediterranean buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) milk. To maximize their profits and overcome seasonal shortages of buffalo milk, some producers have started to produce "PDO" buffalo mozzarella cheese by adulterating buffalo milk with milk from different species. such as bovine, thus defrauding consumers. This practice has led the Italian government to reinforce controls on food mislabeling and fraud through traceability mechanisms. The aim of this work is the development of a molecular assay—droplet digital Polymerase Chain Reaction technique (ddPCR)—able to detect the DNA of cow and/or buffalo milk in PDO buffalo mozzarella cheese, thus revealing fraud. The results have highlighted that, thanks to its high precision and sensitivity, the ddPCR could represent an efficacious means of supporting the official controls aimed at combating the adulteration of buffalo mozzarella cheese with bovine milk. ABSTRACT: Buffalo mozzarella cheese is one of the most appreciated traditional Italian products and it is certified as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product under the European Commission Regulation No. 1151/2012. It is obtained exclusively from buffalo milk. If made from cow milk, or a mixture of buffalo and cow milk, buffalo mozzarella cheese does not qualify as a PDO product. In order to maximize their profits, some producers market buffalo mozzarella that also contains cow milk as a PDO product, thus defrauding consumers. New methods for revealing this fraud are therefore needed. One such method is the droplet digital Polymerase Chain Reaction (ddPCR). Thanks to its high precision and sensitivity, the ddPCR could prove an efficacious means for detecting the presence of cow milk in buffalo mozzarella cheese that is marketed as a PDO product. ddPCR has proved able to detect the DNA of cow and/or buffalo milk in 33 buffalo mozzarella cheeses labelled as PDO products, and experimental evidence ...

This study reports the results of aflatoxins B/G monitoring in food of vegetal origin, imported in Southern Italy from extra-European Union countries. From 2017 to 2020, we analyzed 1675 samples using an accredited HPLC method with fluorescence detection. We found out 295 samples (17.6%) were contaminated by aflatoxin B1, 204 by aflatoxins B/G (12.2%), while 75 (4.5%) resulted non-compliant to maximum limits set by the European Union law. Most of the batches tested were unprocessed food; the distribution of contamination levels, incidence of non-compliant samples, inference for different kinds of food are reported. The study focuses on the food more susceptible to contamination by aflatoxins; nuts are the food more controlled, showing the higher number of non-compliant samples. Our study confirms that pistachio nuts, hazelnuts and almonds are the major sources of exposure for consumers. Still, other products, such as chili pepper and Brazil nuts, need to get more information about their contamination levels. The study's findings are discussed in the perspective of the last opinion by EFSA about chronic exposure to aflatoxins. A case study to evaluate not compliance of a composed food to the European Union law is reported.