Italy tells EU no contaminated mozzarella exported

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy assured the European Commission on Thursday that no mozzarella cheese contaminated with cancer-causing dioxin has been exported to European Union or third countries, a Commission spokeswoman said.

EU health and food safety spokeswoman Nina Papadoulaki said the EU executive had received fresh information from Rome after setting a 1:00 p.m. EDT deadline to receive complete information on the health scare concerning the popular cheese produced in the Campania region.

"Apparently they are just in the local market, in the Italian market. They were not sent to third countries nor to the EU," she told a news conference. "We are talking about four holdings that are positive and 23 dairy establishments. The quantities of dioxins were higher than the EU legislation requires but it was not excessive."

(Reporting by Paul Taylor, editing by Jeremy Smith)