The Association for the Protection of consumers (AZP) insists on a complete ban on the market of imitation products - cheese, yellow cheese and yogurt. In its position distributed to the media, the association wants the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to change the laws and regulations, in which it should be specified that the three products cannot be called in this way and in appearance look like them.
The chairman of the AZP Peyo Mayorski points out that Bulgarian brine cheese and Bulgarian yogurt are traditional national products that already have a protected designation of origin in the European Union. He is adamant that they should not be imitated in any way, even in the home market.
According to the AZP, it is inadmissible to produce imitation products of cheese, yellow cheese and yogurt, which look identical. The association emphasizes that this is how users are misled. From there, they add that their names on the packaging of the imitation products must be in large letters, not in small letters, so that they can be read.
The Association for Consumer Protection calls on the Ministry of Health, in the person of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, to strengthen control over cheese, yellow cheese and yogurt. Inspections should be from processors to traders and chains, the AZP also states.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, nearly 20% of the cow's cheese produced last year in our country had added vegetable fats. In total, 53,641 tons of cheese were produced during the year, including 12,219 tons of palm oil. For comparison, in 2022, the cheese produced was 52,460 tons of cheese, of which 12,371 tons was that with vegetable fat, or the decrease was insignificant - by 1.2%.
Fake cheese is 2.5 times more than that of sheep's milk, for example, which for the whole year is nearly 4900 tons, decreasing by 11.6% compared to the previous year. Last year, dairies put in 3,615 tons of raw materials of non-dairy origin (fats and/or proteins).
In 2023, 235 milk processing enterprises provided data on the milk they processed and the milk products they produced. They processed 713 million liters of raw milk (including supplies from EU member states and imports from third countries). 94% of it is cow's milk, which is 3% more compared to 2022. And in 2023, sheep's milk takes second place in terms of processed quantity (with a share of 3.8%) and is 12.2% more in 2023. Goat's milk is 1.7% of processed milk and is 1% more than 2022. Processed buffalo milk and mixture is 0.5% of total milk, reporting a decrease of 4.6%.
According to data provided by milk processing enterprises, in addition to the indicated amounts of raw milk by type, including delivered from EU member states and imports from third countries, an additional 4,807 tons of concentrated milk, 5,211 tons milk and cream powder, 2,377 tons of milk concentrate and 234 tons of other products (cream, sourdough, whey). Last year, dairies used 3,615 tons of raw materials of non-dairy origin (fats and/or proteins), according to the data of the Ministry of Health.
In 2023, 153,928 tons of fermented milk, 64 million liters of liquid packaged milk, 62,331 tons of white brine cheeses and 26,308 tons of yellow cheese were produced. There is an increase in full-fat or semi-fat and skimmed fermented milk, fermented milk for drinking decreases by 17.0%.
The increase in the amount of cheese produced in 2023 is 5% compared to 2022. The one from cow's milk shows an increase in 2023 of 6.4%, and the cheese from sheep's milk decreases by 14.3%. The largest share is cheese made from cow's milk - 93.4%.
White brine cheese increases compared to 2022 by 1,057 tons or by 1.7%. The largest share (86.1%) is occupied by the white brine cheese produced from cow's milk. White brine cheese, made from milk other than cow's and sheep's, saw a growth of 15.8%. The production of processed and smoked cheeses is 3.5% more in 2023. Other types of cheese (soft cheese, blue cheese, etc.) are also increasing (+36.1%). There was a significant increase in the production of other milk products - by 450 tons.