site.btaFood Safety Regulator, Dairy Producers Team Up against Consumer Rights Watchdog over Cheese Quality Tests

At a news conference in Sofia Tuesday, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) and dairy producers blasted a consumer rights watchdog for recent publications saying that they have established misleading labeling of Bulgarian sheep and buffalo cheese. They put to question the method the organization used and suggested that they have manipulated the tests of the cheeses.

They titled their news conference in the BTA National Press Club “Who gains from the manipulation with the quality of Bulgarian cheese”. 

On September 21, 2023, 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. AAQF said its tests were carried out at a major international laboratory.

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

A week later the Commission for Protection of Competition said it is looking into possible violations of fair competition rules by two cheese producers - Milky Group Bio, which produces the Siana cheeses, and Dimitar Madjarov-2 - suspected of falsely labelling their cheeses. 

BFSA deputy executive director Galya Vikyova said that they received an alert from AAQF with the protocols from the tests but those were incomplete.

BFSA executive director Andrey Velchev said that they noticed that the products were purchased in June 2023, the tests were done in August and the results were obtained a month later.

Vikyova said that they have done an audit at the dairy producers from the AAQF tests, taken samples, sent them to accredited labs and the results are yet to be received. If it is established that any cheese are false labeled, they will be recalled from supermarkets to be repackaged, and the producer will be put to more rigorous control.

The food safety regulator expects the results by the end of the month.

The BSFA officials were at the news conference together with representatives of one of the alleged offenders, Julia Madjarova, who is a CEO of Dimitar Madjarov – 2, Albena Yordanova, who is the marketing director of Milky Group Bio, Dimiter Zorov, Chair of the Board of the Association of Dairy Processors in Bulgaria, and Vladislav Mihaylov, Chair of the Board of the National Association of Dairy Processors.

Zorov said that “a smear campaign is underway against representatives of a sector that has proven its place in the Bulgarian economy”.

Mihaylov called for legislative changes to better protect consumers. “It is wrong to expect them to just buy and pay. They should be able to exercise control,” he said.

Julia Madjarova said that hers is a family business which “has a quality cult” and it is the first time they are accused of producing low-quality food. She explained that they have set in place a quality control system, have their own sheep farm with 1,000 animals and do tests in compliance with the national and EU legislation. She said her company is ready to cooperate with all institutions in establishing the truth; that they have tightened controls over the quality of sheep’s milk they purchase from 100 farms. 

Albena Yordanova said that the results of inconclusive tests are published before a final conclusions is made and that smears the image of Bulgarian products.

After the AAQF alerts to the food safety agency, the two companies were put to daily monitoring in the course of 45 days.