site.btaGovernment Opens State Lab for Pesticides Control at Bulgaria-Turkiye Border, Days-Long Waiting Times to Be Cut Down to Hours

A Bulgarian Food Safety Agency testing laboratory for chemical contaminants opened at the Kapitan Andreevo Checkpoint on Bulgaria's border with Turkiye on Thursday. “We are taking a decisive step to return control of our borders to the state,” said Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Agriculture and Food Minister Kiril Vatev said that trucks waiting for 2-2.5 days at the border will now only have to wait for 5-6 hours for the test results. 

He further said that the laboratory has the capacity to handle traffic, which is not a constant number, and the ability to increase capacity as needed.  

The investment is worth BGN 2 million and the funds have been provided from the state budget. The launch of the laboratory establishes state control over foods entering Bulgaria. 

Prime Minister Denkov thanked the parties that support the government in Parliament because thanks to their support "we can open this laboratory today and in the foreseeable future to return control over the loading and unloading activities, which are also risky." 

According to the Prime Minister, work is underway to double the capacity of the laboratory, to significantly expand the capacity of the station in order to shorten the time only to the technological procedures needed to ensure the quality of the products. 

"We are working on providing X-ray machines so that we can check all trucks as quickly as possible. To make sure that no risky goods are coming through them and no migrants are hiding in them," explained Denkov. 

He added that foreign customs services representatives have been invited to share experience and make sure that "we are doing our best to secure the border according to the best European and world standards". 

"The benefits are many. First, providing our children, our citizens with fruit and vegetables that are safe and will not harm their health," the Prime Minister said. As a second benefit, he pointed to eliminating the possibility of unfair competition from third-country producers who may use herbicides and pesticides banned in the EU. 

The third benefit, according to Denkov, is the elimination of the possibility through lack of or insufficient control that banned goods enter Bulgaria.  

"I hope that this momentum that we have - to bring the state back to where it should take care of the citizens, will not end in the coming days, weeks and months," the Prime Minister concluded.