site.btaCommission for Protection of Competition Starts Audit of Two Dairy Producers Suspected of Misleading Cheese Labelling

The Commission for Protection of Competition is looking into possible violations of fair competition rules by two cheese producers suspected of falsely labelling mixed cheese from cow's and sheep's milk as sheep-only. The two suspected offenders are Milky Group Bio, which produces the Siana cheeses, and Dimitar Madjarov-2.

Presenting false (misleading) information about important characteristics of commercial products is a form of unfair competition.

Last week, the Association for Accessible and Quality Food (AAQF) unveiled the results of tests of 10 Bulgarian white and yellow cheeses labelled as made from sheep's milk. The results showed that only one of the 10 "sheep-milk" cheeses was made using sheep's milk only. Another product, white cheese "from buffalo's milk", was found to not contain even a gramme of buffalo's milk. The tests were carried out at a major international laboratory.

Later, Bulgarian Food Safety Agency CEO Svetlozar Patarinski met with AAQF President Andrei Velchev to discuss possible measures and joint checks.