By the end of February all shops selling dairy products in Bulgaria will have to separate items containing vegetable oils, the National Veterinary Service (NVS) said on February 3 2009.

Over the next couple of days the NVS will publish on its website a list of 40 dairy producers, out of 247 registered, who have stated that they use vegetable oils in their products. The move comes after several reports of dairy products being sold on the Bulgarian market without any indication as to their contents.

"By separating the products on different stands every consumer will be able to pick what he or she wants," NVS head Yordan Voinov told Bulgarian National Television on February 3 2009.

"Bulgaria will be the first European Union country to do that," he said. The NVS was also thinking of reintroducing the quality standard for the production of dairy and meat products. It will be given to any product manufactured according to a traditional Bulgarian recipe which would serve as a guarantee for quality. The standard used to exists for several decades when Bulgaria was a socialist republic. Today, many people still associate it with good quality.

NVS is expected to come up with the quality standard within a few days. The standard will not be obligatory for every food producer but will show that its products have been made in accordance with Bulgarian traditions, Voinov said.