By Darren Ennis BRUSSELS, March 25 (Reuters) - The European Commission has asked Italy for assurances the country's top mozzarella is safe to eat following reports some of the cheese was made with milk contaminated with the carcinogenic chemical compound dioxin. "We have asked for information from Italy and expect them to respond to us by tomorrow at the latest," a Commission official told Reuters on Tuesday. South Korea said it halted the entry of buffalo mozzarella at the weekend and will conduct its own tests to see if there is dioxin contamination. Italy's leading association of buffalo mozzarella producers said on Tuesday Japanese customs were also blocking imports. Police near Naples are investigating whether feed given to buffalo herds, which produce the best milk for mozzarella, was tainted, possibly by gangsters involved in illegal waste disposal. On March 3, Italian food safety officials told EU veterinary experts the cheese was safe, the Commission official said. "The Italian officials said they had taken around 100 samples, but they did not have the final results," the official said. "But on the basis of their evidence, the Commission did not see the need to put pressure on Italy and gave them until the end of this month to respond, which is around now." "However, considering the urgency since then, we hope to have the results of those samples sooner rather than later. Tomorrow in fact," the official added. Sales of buffalo mozzarella plunged 40 percent in January due to health fears when Naples and the surrounding Campania region became inundated with household waste when the garbage disposal system ground to a halt. The Naples mafia -- known as the Camorra -- is heavily involved in waste disposal, particularly the dumping and burning of industrial waste in the Campania countryside, police say. That has caused contamination of water, soil and air which scientists have linked to higher instances of some cancers in parts of the region. Buffalo mozzarella production employs more than 20,000 people, an important industry in one of Italy's most economically backward regions. But the Italian farmers' association, Coldiretti, said the contamination affected only a tiny part of mozzarella producers. Best known for its use melted on pizza, in Italy "buffala" -- which costs at least twice as much as mozzarella made with cows' milk -- is often eaten on its own or in a salad with fresh tomatoes and basil. (Additional reporting by Silvia Aloisi in Rome, editing by Myra MacDonald)
