Bulgaria Meat, Cheeses Receive Equal Rights in EU

Bulgaria's grocery stores offer a wide variety of feta chesses, but anything priced below BNG 7 per kg is deemed suspicious by the Agriculture Ministry over presumed law quality of the raw material. Photo by BGNES

The Bulgarian sausages, cold cuts, and cheeses have equal rights in the European Union, beginning January 1, 2010.

500 Bulgarian meat and milk processing factories were able to fulfill European requirements. Those that remain below the norm have failed to obtain the necessary funds for the modernization of their buildings and processing lines due to the financial crisis.

Nearly BGN 400 M have been invested in the food industry, including money from the EU SAPARD program.

The meat and milk processing enterprises still face some major hurdles such as the illegal shops, not listed anywhere and thus never checked by veterinarians, the low quality and quantity of local milk over the problems faced by farmers, and lack of State control.

However, the fact that the Competition Protection Commission had began court procedures about cartels in the food industry is deemed a sign the State is finally making attempts to control the market, despite the still populist character of the measures.

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