Conforming to the EU Food Quality and safety Standards in Bulgaria,

Abstract

This book is an attempt to present shortly, but systematically, basic results, conclusions and recommendations from the joint research project „Conforming to EU standards and market requirements in the SME of Bulgaria: economic and social effects in the food industry”, headed by Prof. h. Jean-Pierre Gern of the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland. The project was financed by the Swiss National Foundation of Scientific Research in the frame of SCOPES 2005-2008 program. The basic research goal was to reveal social and economic effects of the obligatory implementation of the EU standards on quality, safety and environment protection on SME in the Bulgarian food industry and THE retail sector. The standards relate both to the quality and safety of products and workplaces, as well as to the environment protection. The results and conclusions could be of interest not only for specialized scientific community, but also for official bodies, responsible for conforming to the European food quality and safety standards, non-government organizations like different food sectors and retailers’ organizations, etc.