Nationwide survey of the Bulgarian market highlights the need to update the official seafood list based on trade inputs

An extensive survey of the Bulgarian seafood market was conducted to assess the diversity of fish products available and to compare the provided commercial designations (CDs) and scientific names (SNs) on the products with those on the Bulgarian official seafood designations list, in light of the requirements of Regulation (EU) No. 1379/2013 on seafood labelling. The survey was conducted in 15 different towns belonging to three different geographical macro-areas: North, North-east/South-east and South/South-west. Seventy-one points of sale, including both large and local retailers, were included in the study. In total, 1611 different products were recorded on the market, mostly comprising fresh, frozen and canned fish. Analysis of the product designations showed the presence of 110 different CDs, most of which (n=43, 39.1%) were not associated with any SN. Forty-seven (42.7%) of the 110 CD were compliant with the current EU legislation on seafood labelling, reporting a descriptive common name. A highly significant difference was found in the percentages of non-compliant designations of fresh (57.3%) and frozen (3.9%) product categories (p-value < 0.00001). Overall, the main concerns highlighted regarded the presence on the market of CDs and SNs not included in the official list, thus highlighting the ineffectiveness of the list in supporting fish traceability. CDs already accepted at retail and currently applied throughout the country could represent a starting point to propose an update of the list based on trade inputs, as established by the Regulation (EU) No. 1379/2013.