There are no striking violations in terms of food safety that enter through the Bulgarian-Turkish border. This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Plamen Abrovski to BNT.
He pointed out that the comprehensive checks on the import of fruit and vegetables in our country are carried out at two levels - food entering from third countries and when it enters from Greece and Romania. It turned out that in the past years, no inspection of the import of fruits and vegetables has ever been carried out in our country, Minister Abrovski is outraged, who gave the example of setting two different prices for imported tomatoes in our country - one at 30 cents, the other at 1.30 euros.
He pointed out that all this has been happening in the last 10 years. "When I asked why no inspections were carried out on the import of fruits and vegetables in our country, the answer was that it is entering the so-called "gray zone", in which the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy touch. In recent years, no minister has bothered to solve the problems, and our ambition is to change this - to avoid such an amplitude in the prices of imported fruits and vegetables," the Minister of Agriculture threatened.
Minister Plamen Abrovski added that the change will come from starting work with the governments of third countries that are outside the EU.
He pointed out that unfortunately agriculture in Bulgaria is highly fragmented. "Our ambition is to launch and use the funds in a way that supports the cooperation of farmers and creates tax incentives. The government will propose measures that will unite farmers," promised the Minister of Agriculture and Food.
According to him, the vast majority of food goes through large retail chains, with the final price being formed by supply and demand. "Working with retail chains must be careful, but firm and consistent. The government's role is to create conditions without disrupting the market," added Minister Abrovski.
He believes that the "fair price" will have an extremely disciplining effect on the market.