Quality of food Bulgarians eat is still different from what is available in supermarkets across Europe. This has been recently shown by a research of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. It covered 53 types of foods and drinks, offered in hypermarkets in this country the way they are sold in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy. Products of the same brand sold in different countries differed in quality, but also differed in prices. Over 40percent of the goods checked in Bulgaria had a higher price than those in other member states. This is also seen in the case of detergents and cosmetics. This problem is present across the whole of Eastern Europe and shows what would happen if the EU were to adopt the idea of multi-speed Europe.

Policies of retail chains for dividing people into first and second-class categories when food quality is concerned should remain in the past, participants in an international conference, entitled "Time to table the EU double standards on foodstuffs,” agreed. The forum was organized under the auspices of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and was attended by EU Commissioner for Justice and Consumer Rights Vera Yurova, Bulgarian Ombudsman Maya Manolova, ministers and ambassadors of EU member states, as well as MEPs from different political groups in the EP. According to Manolova, the forum has achieved its goal.

We have succeeded in calling for an end to the practice of food double standards in the EU. This is a great success because until recently even the very existence of double standards was questionable. Now we have outlined the way we can achieve our goal. First, a change is needed in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive that would ban selling goods with different ingredients under the same brand. Then a pan-European methodology to support national authorities in detecting breaches of uniform food standards must be created. We aim at preserving the variety of tastes in Europe. When it comes to national taste, manufacturers will have the freedom to comply with it, but this should be clearly seen on the label so consumers know that this is not the original product.

EU Commissioner Vera Yourova said there was a risk that big manufacturers would sell one or several varieties of a product under different brands but would preserve its low quality. However, this should also be clearly indicated, as consumer must not be misled.

Prime Minister Borissov voiced his expectations that pan-European legislation addressing food double standards will be adopted by the spring of 2019 as it was unacceptable for an increasing percentage of Bulgarian and European citizens to be persuaded to buy apparently harmless or moderately harmful goods, the consumption of which actually causes cardiovascular and many other life-threatening diseases. The PM pointed out that 10 years ago, the state provided about 1 billion levs for health care, and now it provides 5 million, but patients do not always win the battle against illnesses caused by poor quality products and sedentary lifestyle.

Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture Rumen Porozhanov added that Bulgaria has already started to revise its food quality requirements, because in order to solve the problem, more rigorous control was needed in the first place.