Although the Italian government announced it was ready to withdraw all the dioxin-contaminated mozzarella from the market, French authorities urged shops to remove Italian buffalo mozzarella, as a precautionary measure.

"In the coming days and as a precautionary measure, tests will be carried out on shipments of mozzarella made with buffalo milk from Campania," Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said the statement.

Japan and South Korea restrained imports of Italian mozzarella as soon as the news about the high dioxin levels started spreading. In the UK, health officials decided the risk for consumers was not high.

The EU threatened Italy a ban on mozzarella in Europe would be placed unless it makes more efforts to ensure that the dioxin contaminated cheese reaches the EU markets.

After detecting the high levels of dioxin in buffalo milk, about 80 cow farms were shut down in the Naples region. Experts also estimated a drop of 60 percent of the sales, which could mean several millions of dollars.

"The levels of dioxin are not excessive but they are over the maximum recommended amount, so measures have to be taken to decrease these levels," a European Commission official told BBC News.

Italian authorities did their best to assure the public that the contaminated cheese was not highly dangerous for health.

"The cases are few, and they have been isolated," said the agriculture minister, Paolo de Castro, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"We would have to eat 7 kilos of mozzarella in a day" -- 15 pounds -- to constitute a potential health problem, industry official Carlo Cannella insisted.

DeCastro and other officials declared that no tainted cheese was exported.

Italy produces more than 30,000 tons of buffalo mozzarella every year, out of which 16 percent is exported to various countries in Europe, the U.S., Asia and Australia.