August 31, 2010

Bulgaria bans unhealthy meat import

Bulgaria has banned the import of meat cuttings on Monday (Aug 30) after a police operation detected sausages with unclear shelf life, stated the National Veterinary Medical Service's (NVMS) executive director.

Last week, the NVMS and police uncovered over 130 tonnes of products made from meat cuttings which are unsuitable for people to eat. The companies SAF Magellan, Anona and Kamarko, all owned by Georgi Kostadinov, were named as non-compliant in this respect. Kostadinov said the campaign benefited his competitors, and he has done nothing to violate the regulations for production of sausages.

The reason for the ban is that none of the companies can provide guarantees and present documents certifying the origin of the imported cuttings, said Executive Director Yordan Voinov.

He also said that information about the companies which have used such cuttings in their products has reached the European Commission. A non-compliant company is known to have exported sausages to Russia.

SAF Magellan came up with an open letter on Sunday (Aug 29). Describing the accusations against it as "ridiculous", the company said it will seek assistance from European services active in the fields of human rights, competition protection and veterinary work in connection with threats and accusations against the company following the police operation. The company said that last Friday (Aug 27) it was publicly threatened with being "wiped off the map" by the NVMS chief.

The SAF Magellan management attributes the attacks against the company to the fact that it offers cheaper imported meat products.

SAF Magellan is a public company of investors in Bulgaria, the EU, Switzerland and the US. According to the open letter, foreign-owned stake in the company is over 12%.