In the summer of 2014, published images from the Italian region of Campania and revealed that buffalo mozzarella – often seen as a premium product – is not produced under «premium» conditions. The situation of the male calves was the biggest welfare issue. It showed day-old calves left to die. In the same year, created a catalog of criteria that reflected and went beyond the EU guidelines for buffalo husbandry, and called on supermarket chains across Europe to adhere to these criteria when sourcing mozzarella. These criteria included the end of illegal killing of male calves, regular inspections, adequate care and veterinary treatment of the animals, access to outdoor mud baths or indoor spray systems, and constant access to clean drinking water.
After the campaign, many significant advances were made in the supermarkets, which adopted the catalog of criteria for buffalo husbandry, and some Italian producers also voluntarily improved the buffalo husbandry conditions. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before it can be guaranteed that the premium buffalo mozzarella product is also produced under premium conditions.
Water buffalo belong to the biological family of bovids – just like dairy cows. Nevertheless, water buffalo have different needs and behaviors than cattle.
Because the origin of the Mediterranean buffalo is in hot areas, the animals have adapted morphologically to this climate. They have skin pigmented with melanin (a protection against UV radiation) and less dense hair, which allows better heat dissipation. In hot, dry climates, evaporative heat loss in buffalo is limited because they have few sweat glands. In addition, under the same climatic conditions, evaporation through respiration is less effective in buffalo than in cattle. In hot and humid climates, evaporation is not particularly effective at dissipating heat because the air temperature changes only slightly. Therefore, to facilitate heat release, oxen must be able to bathe in water or wallow in mud for thermoregulation while increasing blood volume and blood flow to the skin. For this reason, water, mud baths or other cooling options are very important for the well-being of the buffalo kept for mozzarella production.