2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
At the end of March, a three-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) repealed an ordinance on the production of dairy products criticized by many milk processors and milk producers.
According to his decision, the natural requirement was dropped dairy products and imitating "delicacies" with Palm oil to be offered on different stands.
According to the decision of the SAC, food could again be called "cheese" and "yellow cheese", regardless of whether they contain palm fat, as long as the latter are properly labeled with the product content.
The motives of the SAC for revoking the ordinance were that with the adoption of the ordinance the Bulgarian state had violated the European procedures under the internal regulatory mechanisms.
With the repeal of the disputed ordinance, the requirement for Bulgarian dairy companies to choose whether to produce only natural products or only imitation products with vegetable fats.
According to many companies in the industry, this requirement is the biggest prerequisite for bankruptcy of some of the smaller dairies, which, choosing only one of the two industries, lose hard-won markets.
The ordinance for the production of dairy products in this form does not protect the interests of either producers or consumers of dairy products, is the opinion of companies in the industry.
Their argument is that the restrictive requirements are valid only for Bulgarian producers and in practice, the Bulgarian market will be flooded with imported products containing added vegetable fats.
As soon as the decision of the three-member panel of the SAC was issued, the milk producers and the milk processors sent a request to the next instance - a five-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court to confirm the court decision.
The Supreme Administrative Prosecutor used his right to appeal the decision of the first instance of the SAC and protested the decision of the three-member panel before a five-member panel of the SAC.
Until the decision of the Supreme Court on the case, the ordinance remains in force, which means that the palm cheese must again be offered on a separate stand.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Ivan Stankov has formed a working group, which includes representatives of all stakeholders and experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
The purpose of the working group created in this way is to specify the texts of the ordinance, as well as to propose various changes in it, which will be beneficial for all participants, producers and consumers of dairy products.
One of the ideas discussed at a meeting of the working group will be the idea of various producers in the dairy industry to introduce an additional tax on imitation products. Thus, the price of products containing palm oil will approach that of natural milk products.
The options under discussion are the introduction of a tax of BGN 2.50, of which 50 stotinki should go to the Ministry of Social Affairs, BGN 1 should be transferred to the account of the Ministry of Health / because these products, like alcohol and cigarettes, are dangerous for health / and the last one lev to be used to subsidize livestock in Bulgaria.
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Palm Oil
For many years, palm oil has been known as a healthy vegetable fat. This is the case until scientists discover that the cheese and milk that people consume are high in palm oil. More in-depth research is beginning, and opinions are very contradictory.
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The Imitation Products Will Now Be On A Separate Stand In The Store
It will now be easy to distinguish which products are made with real milk and which are imitation dairy products, because those produced with milk substitutes will be on a separate stand. This became clear after the government adopted changes to the Ordinance on specific requirements for dairy products.
Every Sixth Lump Of Cheese Is Palm Oil
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