Double Food Standards to be Prohibited by the End of the Year, High-Level Forum

By the end of this year, a ban on the double standards of foods produced for the different countries of the European Union will be introduced. This was announced by EU Commissioner Vera Jourova, who was a special guest at a high-level conference on issues of different food qualities. The event was held in sofia on 30^th of April and was entitled "Time to Table the EU Double Standards on Foodstuffs". According to her, three directives will be changed to introduce the change.

The participants discussed the possibility of solving the double standards problem by adopting new EU legislation or by making changes to the existing EU directives that will prohibit the distribution of foods under the same brand with different ingredients.

“I have never thought that big highly reputed companies would take the liberty to do such things. We have treated with great respect and helped chains enter Bulgaria, with the entry into the free market,“ Bulgaria’s Prime Minister said, speaking at the press conference after the forum.

Referring to one of the findings, that infant formula sold in Bulgaria had a higher proportion of palm oil and less milk than in equivalent products to the West, Borissov said: “Which genius decided what the Bulgarian babies like?” If at the May summit (16 and 18 May) we feed our counterparts products bought in Bulgarian supermarkets, will they eat it with pleasure, as the Bulgarians and 130 million people from other EU countries do?”

Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU: "The Bulgarian milk sold to Bulgarian children has lower proportion of calcions, half less potassium and half less phosphorus. Milk chocolate sold in our country not only has less cocoa but it does not contain a drop of butter, and contains 6 hazelnuts less,” she added.

Věra Jourová, the Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality: We want people to see a fair Europe in their shopping cart. It is our common duty to facilitate this process. And yes, I am a mother, a grandmother, and I get very upset by poor quality foods, especially when it comes to children.I have decided to use consumer laws as a major tool for combating unfair commercial practices. I have mobilised several departments in the commission and we offer solutions - specific and ready for immediate application in the food sector as a first priority.

Bulgarian Ombudsman Maya Manolova: I insist on a single European body to oversee and fight food fraud, she said.

Kiril Ananiev, Bulgaria’s Minister of Health: It is not important for food to be just harmless, it is important to be healthy. In this sense, I want to say that the young, healthy, well trained population is the future of Europe, he added.

Rumen Porozhanov, Bulgaria’s Minister of Agriculture: We have requirements for many products, but we have to do a comprehensive analysis and have to review these food requirements.