The central kitchen of a big retail chain in Plovdiv has been sealed by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) and the Consumer Protection Commission (KZP). The BFSA said the kitchen had very poor hygiene and breaches that were dangerous to customers' health.

"The closure was necessary because of poor hygiene at the site and a lack of data to trace the food prepared there," Kremena Stoeva, head of the food control directorate at the BFSA, told BNT.

Two hot food counters in grocery shops in Sofia and Pazardzhik were also shut. Ready meals are made there too, and the breaches are the same as in the Plovdiv kitchen, Stoeva said.

The chain has not been named. Stoeva said the retail chains will be named once the whole round of checks is over.