The Innovation Practice of the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors in Bulgaria

1. The Innovation Practice of the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors in Bulgaria Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors in Bulgaria

2. Establishment and Development of the Union • The Union was founded on 19 February 1999 • UFVPis a nationally recognized branch employer organization • At present members of the Union are 51 companies and 3 specialized research units • The Union is member of: the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bulgarian Association of the Food and Drink Industry and respectively of CIAA.

3. Structure and Management • The major management principles are: democratism, transparency, electability, mandateness. • Managing bodies: - General Assembly- supreme managing body, all members of the Union are members of the General Assembly - Supervisory Board /SB/ - supervises the activity of the Managing Board and reports to the General Assembly - Managing Board /MB/ – 7 members • The organization of the work and activities of MB and SB is governed by the rules and regulations adopted by the General Assembly

4. Major objectives and tasks • Raising the prestige of the profession in society • Protection of professional interests • Information services and member support in the field of innovative technologies and practices • Member support for successful integration in the global and European economic space • Partnership with government and EU authorities in the field of food legislation

5. Major Activities • Lobbying • Producing annual analyses of the state and development of the sector – the analysis for 9 years /starting from 2002/ are available onwww.org-bg.net • Organizing and conducting trainings for improvement of professional qualification • Publishing specialized literature in assistance to the sector

6. Major Activities • Organization and delivery of annual meetings with the producers of raw materials for processing • Development and implementation of joint initiatives with similar local and international branch organizations • Design and implementation of national and international projects in the field of food and vegetable processing and marketing

7. Specialized publications Over the last years teams of experts from the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors developed practical guidelines to facilitate the operation of the establishments, the major of them being: • “Manual for food safety management in fruit and vegetable processing” • “Legislative requirements in the area of environment protection and energy efficiency in the fruit and vegetable processing industry” • “Manual for calculating the energy value of food” • “Manual for determining the durability/suitability of food

8. Specialized publications • The Manual for managing food safety in fruit and vegetable processing covers: • Food safety legislative requirements • Food-related hazards • Good practices • Developing aHACCP plan • Specific food safety requirements • Requirements of theIFS andBRC StandardsValidation, verification and auditing of the HACCP plan • Traceability and recalls • Annexes

9. Specialized publications The practical guidelines “Legislative requirements in the area of environment protection and energy effectiveness in the fruit and vegetable processing industry” consists of two parts: • Legal framework and legislative documents in the area of environment protection. Building a corporate system to manage the legal compliance in the establishments form the fruit and vegetable processing sector • Legal framework and examples of introducing energy management and energy efficiency investigation in in the establishments form the fruit and vegetable processing sector

10. Trainings and Seminars Some of the most important trainings organized by us are : • Training for laboratory assistants – Technical-and-chemical and microbiological controls in the canning industry • Determining theF◦ effect of the sterilization systems used in canning • Food safety management in fruit and vegetable processing

11. Seminars Annually the Union identifiesup-to-date topics, which are important for the sector and need to be discussed with leading Bulgarian and international experts and includes in the agenda. In 2007 one of the major topics was – Migration of hazardous substances from the lid to the product. Requirements to the plastisols and varnishes used in the production of lids. In 2008 - Presentation of food information in food labelling with a special focus on the calculation of energy value In 2009 – Durability of food In 2010 – Organic fruit and vegetable production and processing In 2011 – Establish minimum requirements for industry products: “Lyutenitsa” and ketchup

12. Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors /UFVP/The voice of the Bulgarian canning industry • So far practice has shown that as a result of the innovative policy of the Union our members are enhancing their competitiveness by: - expand their market positions - diversifying their range of products - maintaining and increasing the quality of their products - improving their management systems • In parallel to the development of our members the image of the Union of Fruit and Vegetable Processors is being consolidated and improved • Therefore we could state that UFVP is a reliable and demanded partner – the voice of the Bulgarian canning industry.

13. Thank you for your attention ! BULGARIA 1000 Sofia 108 G. S. Rakovski Str. 4th floor, office 407 А е-mail: union@org-bg.net; office@org-bg.net www.org-bg.net