Bulgaria's food safety agency (BABH) stopped 46 shipments from non-EU countries at the border in September, with more than 204 tonnes of goods in total, the agency said.

Peppers, tomatoes and pomegranates were refused entry because they had more pesticide residue than the legal limit allows. Dried figs contained ochratoxin A and aflatoxins, and peanuts contained aflatoxins.

Among animal products, yoghurt was rejected because it failed the identity check. Fish products and food supplements failed the document check.

In plant health checks, hazelnuts, fruit and vegetables also failed the identity check. One shipment each of Indian nutmeg and farm machinery was stopped over its papers. One shipment of wooden packaging had no ISPM 15 mark. This is the international standard on plant health rules for wooden packaging in global trade.

BABH made 32 entries for these shipments in the European Commission's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.

The border control directorate in BABH's head office checks the shipments at the eight approved border control points in Bulgaria. It is in charge of veterinary and plant health checks, temporary stepped-up checks and emergency measures for non-animal food and feed imported into the EU.

BABH says checks at the border points never stop. It says they keep non-compliant and potentially unsafe food and feed out of the EU, protect the food chain and protect consumers.

In August, the agency turned back 30 shipments from non-EU countries with more than 213 tonnes of goods, BTA recalls.