site.bta Food Safety Agency Does Not Provide Effective Control, National Audit Office Says

Food Safety Agency Does Not Provide Effective Control, National Audit Office Says

Sofia, January 11 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) does not have a sufficient capacity for effective control, says a report of the National Audit Office covering the period from January 2010 to June 2014.
    
During the reference period, the control authorities conducted a total of 191,393 checks, including 123,659 planned ones. A total of 59,803 coercive administrative measures were served and 1,091 retail sites were suspended from operation. A total of 1,952,593 kg of foods were destroyed.
   
Food safety control was carried out amid a shortage of financial and material resources. Relatively low pay means that well-trained staff is not motivated and staff turnover is high.
   
One of the Audit Office's recommendations is to ensure an official on duty for emergency cases, 24/7 in all divisions of BFSA.
  
The preparation of annual plans for control of retail trade and catering establishments is difficult, particularly in the largest cities. In Sofia alone, catering establishments and food retailers exceed 18,500.
   
The peculiarity of imports and their unpredictability are the reasons why official control cannot be planned. This is a serious challenge to BFSA's regional directorates: for instance, one of the border inspection points released a food shipment before the lab results were out, meaning that hazardous foods could enter the country, the report says.
  
BFSA increased checks for GMO products by 32 per cent increase year-on-year, from 2,322 in 2012 to 3,087 in 2013. The trend continued in January-June 2014.