Bulgaria Launches 1st Ever Food Bank

Business | April 10, 2012, Tuesday // 09:28|  views

About 400 000 metric tons of food are being destroyed in Bulgaria each year all while 360 000 Bulgarians are barely surviving. File photo

Bulgaria is officially introducing Tuesday the first ever food bank, which was created by a government expert working group.

The group included representatives of the Agriculture Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Social Policy and Labor, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and the Food Safety Agency.

The food bank provides nourishment for the poor and the disadvantaged and aims at preventing waste of grocery staples through donations from manufacturers and merchants. The donations include products with damaged packaging or close to the expiration date.

Currently and until now, the disadvantaged have been assisted by the EU program Charity, which is expected to end by 2014.

About 400 000 metric tons of food are being destroyed in Bulgaria each year all while 360 000 Bulgarians are barely surviving, the Bulgarian Dnevnik daily writes Tuesday.

Many companies, however, opposed and oppose the food bank, because when food products are destroyed they do not pay Value Added Tax, VAT, for them, while they will have to do so when donating them. Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, refused to eliminate VAT for this donation on grounds it could become a way for tax draining.

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Tags: food, food bank, waste, disadvantaged, donation, donations, charity, finance minister, Simeon Djankov, VAT, Agriculture Ministry, Finance Ministry, Ministry of Social Policy and Labor, Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, food safety agency

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