Large quantities of New Zealand lamb, which has already been imported to Bulgaria, are being cut up in the so-called "Ali Baba's cave" and there is a risk that it will be sold as fresh Bulgarian lamb. This alarming information was shared by the co-chairman of the National Sheep and Goat Breeding Association (NOKA) Simeon Karakolev to the Bulgarian National Radio.
"New Zealand, deep-frozen lamb, which has already entered Bulgaria, is expected. It is already in Ali Baba's cave, they are starting to cut it up. I would not be surprised if we eat it as fresh Bulgarian lamb," Karakolev said on the Bulgarian National Radio.
The NOKA intends to notify all competent authorities to track the shipment in question. According to the signals received by the association, this is an impressive amount of between 200 and 250 tons of deep-frozen lamb.
According to the expert, imported lamb will probably be about 30% cheaper than Bulgarian, but there is a real danger that traders will collect a larger profit if they buy it at a lower price and put it on the market as local production.
Karakolev explained that by regulation the label must say "thawed", but he does not rule out the possibility that part of the quantity will be labeled correctly and the rest will be sold as fresh Bulgarian meat.
"It is very difficult to determine with visual contact that this is thawed meat," the co-chairman of NOKA pointed out, adding: "There are preparations that make the meat look like it was slaughtered yesterday."
In his speech, Simeon Karakolev sharply criticized the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA), stating that it had "overslept over such practices". According to him, the agency should "get moving" and immediately begin inspecting this meat.
Karakolev also warned of even more serious risks: "With this formula, we can eat any meat, including kangaroo."
The co-chairman of NOKA also explained that since the period after the COVID-19 pandemic, Bulgarian sheep farmers have been unable to satisfy the growing consumption of meat in the country, while at the same time the livestock in the country is decreasing, which further deepens the problem.