By month a food bank is expected to be launched in Bulgaria. This became clear after a meeting in MAF of Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Miroslav Naydenov with Vice President of Global Foodbanking Network Mr. Chris Rebstok. If Bulgaria establishes a food bank it will be the 51st country in the world that will have such model of support for people in need, noted Mr. Rebstok. Government supports the establishment of such model of support, because we must seek every opportunity, especially when it refers to poor people, said Minister Naydenov. This issue was discussed with Prime-Minister Boyko Borisov a year ago. Ministry of Agriculture and Food will provide office to non-governmental organization that will manage a food bank, said Minister Naydenov. Prime Minister has assigned to Ministry of Finance to prepare a statement of opinion to this issue, noted Minister and added that still there is no answer.
Food Bank will donate food which will be collected from farms, farmers, distributors, traders and society, said Mr. Rebstok. The idea is to be built infrastructure within a country which to work for charity. Safety and quality of donated food will be guaranteed, noted Dr. Ventsislava Taseva, Deputy Executive Director of Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.
In Bulgaria there are over a half million people in need thousands tons of food which is destroyed, said Marina Brakalova, Chairman of Food Bank Forum. The purpose is to be collected 250-300 tones of food for the forthcoming year. The necessary funding for project financing amounted to BGN 400-500 thousands. Large companies have already expressed willingness to donate food to bank.