Bulgaria to enhance food safety inspections

Bulgaria would introduce a series of measures aimed at improving the effectiveness of food safety inspections, the head of the state's watchdog said here on Tuesday. Some 1,000 food inspectors have carried out 300,000 checks across the country last year, Prof. Plamen Mollov, Executive Director of Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) told a press conference. "This is not effective, and we need to do in-depth inspections, analyzing the system," said Mollov, who was appointed last October. Until now, the control was not effective because of a lack of clear instructions on what the inspector should check, Mollov said, adding that the agency is currently writing the relevant rules and criteria. Mollov also announced the upcoming introduction of "hidden inspectors" who would secretly attend official BFSA inspections and provide independent information about their conduct. In order to improve internal control and prevent information leakage, Mollov recently set up a mobile unit for performing parallel control just after inspections already conducted, a "Risk Analysis" department, and rotation of senior officials in the territorial divisions. At the first inspection, attended by the new "Risk Analysis" department, the agency banned 80 tons of dairy products stored under non-refrigerated conditions, Mollov said. In addition, BFSA inspection teams would begin working around the clock, Mollov said. Until now, the agency has carried inspections during business hours only, he added. He also said that at a meeting on Monday, representatives of retail chains have agreed to show in a prominent place BFSA hotline number. During the meeting, he also urged retailers to improve their self-control systems, Mollov said. BFSA is an integrated body for controls of safety and quality of food and feed in Bulgaria, established in the beginning of 2011. "BFSA follows the best European practices for implementation of highest standards of controls in the areas of safety and quality of food, food- and feed additives and drinks, veterinary medicine and animal welfare, plant protection and fertilizers, phytosanitary controls, feed, border inspections and others," the agency says on its website.