NAPLES, Italy — If you thought the water was bad, don’t try the bread.
Illegal bread makers throughout Naples have produced bread rife with toxins, and in some cases, burned in ovens stoked by wood from recycled coffins, Italian officials said.
"Yes, you understood correctly. The wood we have found has been from recycled coffins," said Francesco Borrelli, assessor for agriculture for the province of Naples.
He advises consumers against buying bread from street vendors, and to instead buy bread only in stores and prepackaged in plastic bags.
A yearlong investigation revealed that illegal bread ovens — many of which are run by the local mafia — use recycled wood as fuel, including varnished doors.
"When burned, it releases toxins, dioxins and carcinogenic substances, making the bread very, very dangerous," Borrelli said.
Of the roughly 3,000 bread ovens in Naples and its surrounding areas, an estimated 1,400 are believed to be illegal — from street vendors to some stores that operate illegally to circumvent licensing, paying taxes and governmental oversight and regulations, Borrelli said.
"It’s an intense economic factor for organized crime, earning an estimated 500 [million] to 600 million euros a year," he said, referring to the local mafia called the Camorra.
The problem has existed for decades to the chagrin of legitimate bread-makers, who have repeatedly fought to bring attention to the issue, said Domenico Filosa, president of the Regional Association of Bread Bakers Campania.
"This is a war against abusers who are bringing to our knees legal businesses," Filosa said. "We have denounced it over the years, but no one in government has ever moved before. Finally, we have some action."
Areas of the largest concentration of illegal vendors and shops are in the city and areas north of Naples, including Giugliano, Marano, Aversa and Caserta. The illegal bread mostly is sold by street vendors, Borrelli said, but some are sold on shelves of bread shops — either because the shops are run as part of the mafia crime syndicate, or by legitimate owners forced to buy the bread to pay their "pizzo," or the fee and protection money the mafia extorts from business owners.
About one-fourth of bread sold in Naples is "illegal," Borrelli said.
Sunday, a raid throughout the city and its suburbs by Italy’s paramilitary, the Carabinieri, resulted in the shutdown of 200 illegal ovens and street-side vendors — some of whom hid the bread for sale in trash bins, he said.
"Don’t eat the bread by street vendors," Borrelli warned. "We don’t know what kinds of ingredients were used to make the bread. We don’t know what kind of wood was used, or the cleanliness of the bakery. Buy bread only in stores, and already in bags."
Italian law enforcement is working with local health and hospital officials to determine if any patients might have sought treatment from consuming illegal breads, Borrelli said.
Officials at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Naples have had no reports or complaints from patients who might have become ill from eating bad bread, said Chief Petty Officer Sean Ryall, from the occupational medicine department.
