Svetla CHAMOVA, Executive Director of the Association of Meat Processors,

“Preparation of the implementation of EU rules in the meat sector”

Globalisation exerts significant adjustment pressures on the food industry. Food production is
no longer nationally organised and consumer interest in safety and price needs increasingly to
be taken into account.

The food industry is the largest in Bulgaria, accounting for 25% of industrial output. Meat
processing is the third largest sector, after bread and beverage production. The meat sector is
entirely in private ownership and consists of relatively small, and fairly new, units.

An underlying principle in EU enlargement is that standards of quality and safety cannot

decrease. For Bulgarian producers, this poses a new set of requirements, for example
regarding humane transport of animals, slaughter methods, as well as risk analysis and control
procedures along the “stable-to-table” chain. SAPARD funds have been channelled into
helping a large number of meat producers reach EU standards. The HACCP system was
introduced in 2004, with full implementation expected by end-2005.

Authorities are also faced with new challenges and more exacting supervisory requirements,
but the onus of responsibility is on the producers. While the application of higher standards
promises greater commercial returns in the long-term, the required investments and
adjustment costs imply the opposite in the short-term.

The Association of Meat Processors of Bulgaria produced a manual on HACCP in 2003, with
a special one for SMEs due out in 2006, as well as trained 600 people in the techniques of
HACCP. Its authority does not, however, cover the entire stable-to-table chain and before the
slaughterhouse, it relies on the cooperation and correct application of norms and authorisation
procedures by farmers.

Michael VELKOV, Executive Director of Bulgarian Association of Milk Processors

“The diary sector and its changes due to the implementation of the EU norms”

The Bulgarian Association of Milk Processors represents 70-80% of the country’s dairy
producers. There are now 283 processors, formed after the privatisation of the former 53
state-owned companies. Only one state-owned processor remains in business today. Total
output today stands at 979 000 tons of cow milk.

All of the Association’s members have signed up to relevant codes of good manufacturing
practice and 12-13% have adopted HACCP systems. The Association promotes the wider use
of HACCP by issuing guidelines for compliance, while 76 million EUR has been funded from
SAPARD for capacity-building projects. The Association became a member of the European
Dairy Association in September 2005, which it expects will help compliance.

It is foreseen that, with the help of further loans and grants from the Bulgarian state
agricultural fund totalling 24 million LEV and structural arrangements such as regional milk
boards, processors will be in full compliance with EU norms by end-2006. Control by the
milk boards of production methods and quality will however still need to be reinforced, and a
transition period until 2009 has been granted for compliance with norms in raw milk
processing.
Zahary VELCHEV, Union of Processors of Fruit and Vegetables
“Systems of food safety in fruit and vegetable processing”

Because of the favourable climate and soil, fruit and vegetable production has strong roots in
Bulgaria. The Union of Processors of Fruit and Vegetables expect to benefit from EU
membership, provided that marketing methods and demand keep pace with adopting the
quality requirements of EU membership. To this end, the Union has issued manuals on both
Good Management Practice and HACCP.

The remaining challenges relate to:

- Capacity: securing funds for proper storage, sewage, and lighting systems.
- Staff training: seasonal nature of employment in fruit and vegetable production means staff
not always sufficiently technically adept with methods and equipment.
- Traceability: occasional inability to trace origin of product implies need for better
certification of upstream fruit and vegetable producers
- Control bodies: inadequate know-how and capacity
- Control systems: unclear whether some firms’ own quality control criteria fulfill parameters
and criteria in HACCP

The conclusion drawn by the Union is that adequate systems of self-control are essential for
fruit and vegetable processors to be able to meet quality and market conditions of EU
membership. Initiatives here relate, for example, to adopting international standards in
certification (since September 2005) such as those embodied in the Codex Alimentarius.