site.btaAzerbaijan Has Not Confirmed whether Imports of Bulgarian Foods Are Banned

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) has not yet received official information from the competent authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan regarding an import ban on certain regions of Bulgaria, BFSA told the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) in relation to information previously published by Azerbaijani media that the Azerbaijan Food Safety Agency had imposed temporary restrictions on imports of certain goods from some regions of Bulgaria and Croatia due to diseases in ruminants in both countries.

Immediately after the media publication, the BFSA sent official inquiries to both the Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Sofia in order to clarify the scope of the measure and its actual impact on Bulgarian exports, the statement said. At the time of sending this reply, no official response had been received from the Azerbaijani authorities.

Given the diseases cited in the media reports, it can be assumed that the possible restriction concerns live ruminants and products derived from them, said the BFSA. The Agency noted that, according to the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, companies wishing to export food and feed of animal origin to that country are subject to prior approval by the local Food Safety Agency. Approval is granted after documentary verification and on-site inspection.

At present, three Bulgarian companies have such approval, including for the production of fish products, dairy products, and feed additives. It should be noted that these companies are not located in the areas mentioned in the publication (Kardzhali, Smolyan, or Blagoevgrad), the BFSA pointed out.

The Agency also said that the publication cites the region of Kardzhali as the source of the contagion which is untrue. The source of the plague in small ruminants is in the region of Pazardzhik.

According to data from the BFSA, in recent years Bulgaria has mainly exported fish products, dairy products, food of non-animal origin, and feed additives to the Republic of Azerbaijan. There is no data on exports of live animals.