(ROME) - Italy has provided the EU with all requested information on contaminated lots of mozzarella cheese, the agriculture minister said Thursday, as the European Commission warned it could follow Japan and South Korea in imposing an import ban.

Rome provided "new information" to the European Commission, Paolo De Castro told a news conference, insisting that "there is no health problem".

He gulped down slices of mozzarella afterwards for the cameras.

The minister was speaking shortly after the commission gave a 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) deadline for further information to a reply it received on Wednesday.

De Castro said the situation was under control. "It's only a matter of a few limited cases in 83 farms out of 1,900 which were immediately isolated," he said.

"If you ate the mozzarella containing a level of dioxin that is slightly higher than the tolerated threshold you would have to eat seven kilos (15 pounds)" to have health problems, De Castro said.

He also rejected any link between the mozzarella contamination and the waste disposal crisis that engulfed the Naples region at the end of last year.

A European Commission spokeswoman said the body might "look at safeguard measures" including a possible embargo if it does not receive an adequate reply from Rome.

"The commission demands the immediate withdrawal from the market of all contaminated products, the name of the buffalo farms placed under bans, the list of contaminated products, information on the control measures put in place and guarantees on prevention measures," she said.

Italian authorities said last week that high levels of dioxin, which increases the risk of cancer, were found in 66 buffalo herds around the city of Naples.

Most health experts quoted by the Italian media have said that the raised levels do not constitute a danger to health, but domestic sales have already fallen by 30 to 35 percent, according to the body that oversees the product.

Officials have previously said the contamination is probably linked to the Naples region's chronic waste disposal problems, which saw thousands of tonnes of rubbish left undisposed of in past months.

Italy produces 33,000 tonnes of mozzarella per year, with some 250,000 buffalo producing the milk for the product.

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