Italy's Health Ministry says it has told the EU about rotten cheese

Italy's Health Ministry says it has informed the EU about a probe into recycled rotten cheese that might have reached European consumers. Anti-fraud police in the northern town of Cremona said Friday that cheese contaminated with mice feces and containing bits of plastic had been reprocessed and possibly offered to European dairy companies, including in Germany, Austria, France and Spain. Police said cheesemakers paid the companies under investigation to dispose of expired products but they tried to resell the processed waste. Silvio Borrello, a ministry official, said he didn't know if the cheese had reached consumers. Police said three people were arrested for fraud in March 2007. A Rome daily on Friday reported... [read full story]