Another hearing in parliament on the cases of sheep plague

A temporary parliamentary committee in Bulgaria is investigating the handling of a plague outbreak among small ruminants in Velingrad, following discrepancies between the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, regional structures, and herd owners. The agency's decision not to cull the herd and perceived lax enforcement of a European Commission ban on animal products from the Pazardzhik region have raised concerns. The committee plans to continue its investigations, with concerns about inadequate inspections, sampling, communication, and the continued operation of a slaughterhouse in the affected area.

At the first meeting of the temporary parliamentary committee for plague and small ruminant disease in 2025, which will be held today at 2:30 p.m. in the National Assembly, the hearing of officials from the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency will continue in order to establish how the mortality of animals in the herd in Velingrad was handled. Despite expectations that the deputies will come up with decisions today, the committee will continue its work with two more meetings, Borislav Petkov, a member of parliament from MECH and chairman of the committee, announced in an interview for the program "Horizont". From the first meeting, Petkov noted "a lot of discrepancies between the explanations of the administration, the regional structures of the agency and the owners" on the case of plague of small ruminants in Velingrad. "Everyone wants to defend themselves, but initially, at least in my opinion and according to a large part of my colleagues, there were noticeable omissions, and ...