EU audit identifies gaps in Bulgarian meat controls

An audit has found the Bulgarian meat control system is let down by a lack of problems being recorded during controls and limited enforcement.

The audit by DG Sante took place in May and June 2024 to evaluate the control system for slaughter hygiene and meat inspection. Recently, six recommendations were made.

The official control system for the production of red meat and poultry meat includes almost all the elements in EU legislation. However, DG Sante said effectiveness is seriously compromised because of the low level of detection and recording of non-compliances, limited enforcement measures taken when problems are found, a lack of documented procedures or instructions for staff performing the checks and some official tasks are not carried out in line with EU rules.

During slaughterhouse visits the audit team found that official controls were not effective and there is no consistency in the way they are carried out.

For official controls at slaughterhouses, there are no instructions on ante-mortem inspections (AMI), on animal welfare controls and on the verification of food businesses’ self-control systems. Instructions on post-mortem inspection (PMI) have not been updated to include the latest changes in EU legislation. The audit team noted checklists for official veterinarians have not been updated since 2014 and they are not used often during inspections.

Auditors discovered that officials did not have sufficient knowledge of specific legal requirements to perform their duties properly, in particular on PMI, hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) systems and the protection of animals at the time of slaughter.

Suspension of operations
In one slaughterhouse, serious problems with the sanitary and maintenance conditions were observed. Official veterinarians and local inspectors said some problems had been detected in the past but not recorded in reports because of verbal requests to fix the issues. However, the company did not resolve the non-compliances and OVs did not take enforcement action, so the situation remained unchanged.

Auditors noted damage to floors, walls, and the ceiling in the evisceration and areas for further processing of carcases, damaged equipment in several parts of the site, dirty chillers with surfaces not able to be suitably cleaned or disinfected, gaps between floors and the external doors, not allowing suitable pest control, and poor hygiene standards in several parts of the plant.

In this establishment, the firm refused to allow access to the audit team and authorities to three locked chilling rooms, two of them connected to the slaughter area. After breaking the lock on one of these rooms, about 10 tons of frozen meat products were stored in a way which made them unfit for human consumption. Meat was destroyed and activities at the plant were temporarily suspended.

In the slaughterhouses visited, official sampling did not reveal any non-compliant microbial results. No positives for Salmonella and Campylobacter were detected in own-check controls in the past three years in the poultry slaughterhouse.

In response to the audit report findings, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency established a working group to develop a draft manual for the performance of official controls in slaughterhouses.

Online training with all official veterinarians and service staff in slaughterhouses was planned as well as onsite practical training on ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection.

The agency is also developing a procedure for audits of company’s self-monitoring plans and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for verifying the effectiveness of food-related official controls.

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