Most of the canning and processing factories in Bulgaria are members of the Union of Processors of Fruits and Vegetables which was created 25 years ago in in February 1999 and currently has more than 50 members. The Association of Traditional Bulgarian Preserved Foods (ATBPF) is part of the union but was created a year ago by some of its members to comply with the requirements of the EU and some of the new requirements in Bulgaria for producing traditional products with traditional recipes. Its members are united under a common aim: to produce an offer traditional Bulgarian food, produced from Bulgarian raw materials. For example, lutenitsa*, rose jam and others. Members products can be found in all EU countries and not only, in Australia, Japan, USA, etc.
ATBPF’s missions are to make detailed analysis for the sector, also implementing new technologies and surveys for the fields, cooperating with the university of agriculture in Plovdiv, and with the ministry of agriculture for implementing the requirements of the EU and the Bulgarian food agency for involving all parties in the process of good commercial practices in the food industry; following all crucial points and evaluating processes from the field up to the table. It is also to introduce to its members' consumers the products in a new way, the explain the safeness of the technologies used to grow and to develop this product; to organize meetings between the producers and farmers; to help organizing events and participate to different seminars and exhibitions and to help its members be more productive and to have more qualified personnel.
The association currently has twelve members, including the two largest tomato processors: Balkan Agricultural, by far the biggest first-stage processor in Bulgaria with about 35,000 tonnes of tomatoes processed each year and a daily processing capacity of 700 tonnes of paste, and Deroni Ltd, which owns land where tomatoes are grown, nurseries to produce tomato seedlings, and factories producing finished products, including the traditional Bulgarian lutenitsa, but also ketchup, tomato sauces, etc.
