Leadership Shake-Up at BFSA: New Management Appointed After Mavrovski’s Removal

Svetla Yancheva has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, taking over the position after the dismissal of Angel Mavrovski, who had been appointed by the caretaker government at the end of February.

In recent months, Mavrovski’s name had been linked to revelations involving illegal slaughterhouses, closed meat-processing facilities and the destruction of tonnes of products.

The Minister of Agriculture said that Mavrovski had achieved significant results within the agency and demonstrated that it could operate effectively, but added that he believes its work can be further built upon. He also noted that he personally informed Mavrovski by phone earlier this morning, May 21.

Plamen Abrovski, minister of Agriculture, commented on the leadership change, saying:

“I asked him, in a collegial and gentlemanly manner, to organise a proper handover process. I personally intend to thank him for the work he has done so far. As for the reason behind the change — it is completely normal for a new team to be formed with new people.”

In an interview with BNT, former Bulgarian Food Safety Agency director Angel Mavrovski said he received his dismissal order without a signature or official stamp.

Mavrovski suggested that his removal may be linked to actions taken during his tenure, including more than 28,000 inspections, the closure of illegal slaughterhouses, and alleged violations at Kapitan Andreevo Border Crossing.

According to him, these findings involved suspicions of pesticide sample manipulation and investigations into the import of smuggled meat.

The former BFSA chief also claimed that a lack of oversight had been identified at the state laboratory at the border and said the information had already been forwarded to the General Directorate for Combatting Organised Crime.

He further stated that his actions may have affected significant economic interests.

Angel Mavrovski, the former head of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency: “We showed that access there is completely unrestricted — there is no access control and no video surveillance. The other troubling thing we discovered is that anyone can manipulate the results of samples coming from the chromatographs. In other words, anyone can make a sample appear positive or negative for pesticides, which is absolutely unacceptable.”

In a written response to BNT, the Ministry of Agriculture of Bulgaria said that control at the Kapitan Andreevo Border Crossing remains one of the state’s top priorities.

The ministry also stressed that all reports involving alleged corruption or claims that food products containing pesticide levels above legal limits were allowed into the country would be examined by the relevant competent authorities.