Govt Moves to Revive 'Real' Bulgarian Yogurt

Domestic | July 1, 2010, Thursday // 18:11|  views

Bulgarian Minister of Foods, Miroslav Naydenov, is looking at yogurt, prodecued by the state-owned LB Bulgaricum. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's government is going to reintroduce the state standard for the production of “real” Bulgarian yogurt.

In two days Bulgaria's National Gazette will publish the recipe for yogurt, made by the first Bulgarian state standard, which will be active in two weeks.

The Bulgarian state standard will include the exact requirements for producing Bulgarian yogurt, as well as the name of the Bulgarian bacteria - Lactobacillus bulgaricus. It was abolished in 1998 with the argument that Bulgaria had to harmonize its regulations with those of the EU.

“Consumers will know which companies produce the real Bulgarian yogurt, and soon there will be a state standard for brined cheese, meat and bakery products,” the Bulgarian Minister for Foods, Miroslav Naydenov, announced Thursday.

Bulgaria's PM Boyko Borisov has initialized a meeting between state and non-governmental organization in order to discuss the implementation of the Bulgarian state standards (BDS) on foods.

Minister Naydenov explained that BDS will not be mandatory, but rather recommendable, but its sign on a label will guarantee the consumers that the used products are real.

“We all believe we should protect the Bulgarian consumers and give them a chance to buy quality products. If you go to the store and buy yogurt with the BDS sign, it will be just like the yogurt you remember,” Naydenov said and added that because of the Lactobacillus bulgaricus, it will go bad very fast.

At the meeting it was also made clear that the companies that want to follow the BDS will have to register at the Bulgarian Patent Office and pay BGN 300. However, it was not made clear how long would the registration take.

“We will try to make it as fast as possible,” promised Kostadin Manev, the President of the Patent Office, adding that at the moment there are only two registered companies that could use the label Bulgarian yogurt.

Minister Naydenov explained that currently there are 100 laboratories which research food quality and added that their number will soon be reduced to six.

According to Dimitar Zorov, President of the Association of Milk producers, the implementation of BDS will not lead to increase in the price of yogurt.

The Bulgarian yogurt is the most famous Bulgarian food product. At a meeting between the Bulgarian Minister of Foods and the Japan's Ambassador to Bulgaria, Tsuneharu Takeda, in November 2009, it was made clear that the Bulgarian yogurt holds about 60% of the Japanese food market, which means that around 40 million Japanese consume the Bulgarian product.

LB Bulgaricum, a state-owned Bulgarian company, holds the patent for the production of Bulgarian yogurt with the lactobacillus bulgaricus bacteria. It receives EUR 5 M annually under patent rights from the production of Bulgarian yogurt in Japan.

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Tags: yogurt, Miroslav Naydenov, Boyko Borisov, Japan, Japanese Ambassador

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