In 'The Truffle Underground,' author Ryan Jacobs investigates how fake truffles have flooded the Italian food scene
The fraudsters they attempt to catch are organized and dangerous. When Sergio Tirrò, a former major on the force with dirty blond hair, a serious stare, and the air of a European cosmopolitan, once arrived at an olive oil factory somewhere in southern Italy, dressed in his black and red military fatigues, he and his three colleagues thought they were prepared for what they would discover once inside. When they breached the doors, they found ten men, all unwilling to surrender.
Over the last two decades, as Italian food became an ever-more-marketable good in the international marketplace, the Camorra, the ‘Ndrangheta, and the Cosa Nostra Mafias began to see an easy way to produce illicit revenue. As with cocaine and heroin, the prices and demand were high. But unlike cocaine and heroin, the risks of detection were low.
Over the years, various proposals from truffle-hunting associations about enforcing a more formal system of traceability, perhaps using hunters’ license numbers — which correspond to the region they’re permitted to hunt in — have been floated to the Italian Parliament with little result. This would make passing off foreign truffles more difficult, but like most other suggested solutions to criminal problems in this business, the industry power brokers have little interest in seeing it happen.
He spoke with criminals, restaurateurs, diners, and food suppliers, always searching for the next big tip. Sometimes they came in anonymous emails or phone calls; occasionally, people walked right into the office. Fasciani wouldn’t tell me where the tip about the truffles came from, but recently, he said, after a few high-profile frauds — with products as prominent as Prosecco — Italian diners had become surprisingly savvy.
After bringing the truffles back to the office as evidence, Fasciani contacted Alessandra Zambonelli, a mycology professor at the University of Bologna who is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts on truffles, and told her that he needed help in identifying what these curious-looking truffles were. She conducted a genetic analysis.
The company told Fasciani and the other NAS officials that it was not the only enterprise in the area hawking the Tunisian product. Many restaurants, even sophisticated ones with unblemished reputations, the owner said, were serving the Tunisian fungus. He knew because he had negotiated with the Tunisian smugglers who agreed to travel there, buy the product, and exchange it with him near the Italian border.
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