Italy’s mozzarella crisis exposes neoliberal supply chains’ fragility and labour exploitation in Campania’s dairy sector
Original framing: “Italy’s buffalo mozzarella production grinds to a halt in truckers’ strike” — Financial Times
The voices most affected by the mozzarella crisis—undocumented migrant workers, small-scale buffalo herders, and women labourers in dairy processing plants—are entirely absent from the Financial Times’ coverage. These workers, often from Eastern Europe, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa, face wage theft, unsafe conditions, and no legal recourse, yet their struggles are framed as ‘disruptions’ rather than injustices. Women, who make up a significant portion of the labour force in dairy processing, are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and sexual harassment, yet their experiences are never mentioned. Centring these voices would reveal the crisis as a labour rights issue, not just a logistical one, and could inspire solidarity movements across Europe’s agricultural sectors.
The mozzarella crisis in Italy is not merely a logistical failure but a symptom of a much larger collapse: the neoliberal food system’s reliance on exploited labour, ecological degradation, and the erasure of cultural heritage.
The Financial Times’ framing obscures this by treating the strike as an isolated event, when in reality it is the latest act in a decades-long drama of corporate consolidation, labour precarity, and the displacement of traditional knowledge. Historical parallels—from the decline of Italy’s dairy cooperatives to the rise of industrial dairy in Wisconsin and Mexico—reveal a global pattern where agribusiness prioritises profit over resilience, while marginalised workers and Indigenous stewards bear the costs. The solution lies not in ‘fixing’ the supply chain but in dismantling the extractive structures that created this crisis: by reclaiming worker ownership, localising food systems, and centring the voices of those who have been exploited for centuries. The buffalo, once a symbol of Campania’s autonomy, now stands at the intersection of labour rights, ecological justice, and cultural revival—a reminder that food is never just about economics, but about power, land, and the stories we choose to tell.