Say cheese? Not in Italy, where a truckers’ strike has brought mozzarella production to a halt

A truckers’ protest in southern Italy has halted the production of the famed buffalo mozzarella , causing an estimated loss of 3 million euros in just 24 hours as the milk cannot reach dairies in the Naples region and the finished cheese cannot reach customers, an official said.

The weeklong strike by truck drivers over the high cost of diesel driven up by the Iran war has also blocked deliveries of other basic goods to supermarkets and left gas pumps empty in much of southern Italy.

The government approved new tax breaks for truckers Thursday, but it was too early to tell whether they were enough to end the protest.

The disruption is particularly damaging to buffalo mozzarella because the production of the protected cheese depends on a tightly timed supply chain.

Buffaloes have to be milked regardless of whether dairies are operating, while production rules require that their milk be turned into mozzarella within 60 hours.

Pier Maria Saccani, director of the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, said that about 1 million liters of buffalo milk produced on Wednesday couldn’t be turned into mozzarella because of the transport blockade.

The consortium oversees production standards and protects the designation of origin of the cheese in Italy and abroad.

“Yesterday, no mozzarella was produced,” Saccani said, explaining it was a “3 million-euro block in 24 hours” — a loss of about 3.4 million dollars.

Farmers typically have only enough capacity to hold the fresh milk until dairy trucks collect it and cannot store large quantities for extended periods.

“So this blockade has obviously caused panic among farmers, who say, ‘Where are we going to put it?’” Saccani added.

The dairies making mozzarella cannot afford to accumulate a highly perishable product if trucks are unable to deliver it to customers.

Several dairies have remained closed as a result, Saccani said, describing the situation as a “complete production blockade.” Unlike false claims this summer that production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese was in crisis due to extreme heat, buffalo mozzarella output is indeed in jeopardy.

During an extraordinary Cabinet meeting on Thursday, the Italian government led by Premier Giorgia Meloni approved new measures to help truckers and farmers face higher fuel costs, bringing financial aid to those two groups to a combined 540 million euros in tax credits, up from 434 million euros.

Some farmers have resorted to feeding part of the unused milk to their animals because they have nowhere to send it, Saccani said, adding that the transport disruption is also threatening supplies of animal feed and diesel needed to keep farms operating.