Minister of Agriculture: No Risk of Fipronil-Affected Eggs at the Moment

The checks of Bulgarian producers of eggs and egg products for the presence of fipronil will be completed within two weeks, Agriculture and Food Minister Roumen Porozhanov said on 31^st of August, when he presented the priorities in the Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Forests sector and the first 100 days report. It has also become clear that elevated levels of the pesticide at this stage have not been identified. All consignments of Polish eggs imported in the recent months have already been checked and no irregularities were found.

However, the Food Agency does not know how much ice cream and mayonnaise contaminated with fipronil have been consumed since March Today they did not want to announce the names of the producers because European regulations did not allow.

The minister is firm that there is no risk for the population at the moment. Two shipments of fipronil-affected egg powder have been identified so far. Minister Porozhanov explained that the second shipment was completely banned from distribution and the first one, which was already distributed, was withdrawn from the market and forbidden.

The Forestry Agency envisages an Increase in the resources for forest fire prevention. So far, 80 % of the funds were spent on extinguishing of fire, now the ratio will equalize.

Porozhanov said that despite the large number of preventive actions, more than 95% of the fires are caused by the human factor, accidentally or not.

As top priorities, the Minister referred to sustainable and market-oriented agriculture, stable food sector development, forest management and fisheries and aquaculture development.

As top priorities, the Minister referred to sustainable and market-oriented agriculture, stable food sector development, forest management and fisheries and aquaculture development.