In the ten months since its establishment in February 2011, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BABH) has conducted 190 000 inspections of food producers and traders, which resulted in the closure of 900 non-compliant stores and production facilities.

The figures were reported by Lyubomir Kulinski, Director of BABH' Food Control Directorate, who spoke at an international conference on the present status and the future prospects of the food industry held in Sofia on Tuesday.

Despite the numerous instructions issued by health and veterinary inspectors for detected violations, a large number of the companies keep selling food products that have passed their sell-by dates or are of unknown origin, the experts revealed.

For BABH's ten months in operation, its inspectors have seized a total of 84 tons of meat and dairy products and120 000 eggs beyond sell-by dates.

BABH has also seized close to 6000 liters of non-alcoholic drinks because they did not meet quality standards or were produced by unregistered companies.

By end-2011, the food safety authority must enter all food producers and traders into a register.

The registration of food producers has already been completed, with a total of 3700 companies documented as fully compliant.

Another close to 1800 food producers and processors have been issued instructions concerning the modernization of the buildings or other petty infringements.

"These firms can send food products on the market because they comply with the statutory requirements for quality, but it is also important that they iron out organizational and paperwork irregularities," said Ventseslava Taseva, deputy CEO of BABH.

After fulfilling the requirements, the companies will be entered into the BABH's register.