Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 46: Food Safety Controversy Ends

It is not that no one dares to take over. At least the Shuanghui Food Group is very interested. Klaudia Ivan is very good at things. Although the business is not very big, the network is vast.

Through a friend's connection with an executive of Shuanghui Food Group, Klaudia Ivan sold the slaughterhouse for a super low price of 10,000 Leva after some bargaining.

Of course, the business that has been merged is far more than just Kloo Ivan's slaughterhouse. At about the same time, the Shuanghui Food Group has merged more than a dozen plants, large and small. The basis for the monopolistic group's capital is already in place.

As the food sector is wailing in Bulgaria, Shuanghui Food Group is living a good life. There is still room for growth.

Thanks to planning, several inferior products were called off and de-stocked. Even if there is stock, it can be sold out overseas through Volvo's channel.

Now the products in hand are qualified. Wilhelm also openly invites the public to monitor the sector and welcomes experts and scholars to test them. Also, after shifting down the low-grade goods, the sales of middle and high-end food products are rapidly increasing.

At Ferdinand's behest, Shuanghui Food Group adopted "cheap is not good" as the core of its propaganda and launched a campaign everywhere to instill this concept in the Bulgarian population.

The frightened middle class, at once, became a loyal fan of Shuanghui Food Group. The products, especially the "aristocratic exclusive", become a hot product instantly.

After all, the 19th century was still the era of the aristocracy. No one dared to mess with the goods that supplied the aristocracy. The influence of poisoning a thousand commoners is no better than one poisoned aristocrat.

Shuanghui Food Group also advocates asking the government to enact a food safety law to regulate the safety and hygiene standards of the food sector.

The food processing business led to asking the government to legislate, which instantly attracted public opinion. For a while, Shuanghui Food Group became a synonym for a conscience business.

Taking the chance, Wilhelm simply stripped all the inferior products from the group's business and got a few outsourcing companies to produce them.

From now on, the plants of Shuanghui Food Group worldwide, all the food produced is qualified. It lays the foundation for the future food empire.

The food safety controversy is heating up, and people know a storm is coming.

Just after Klaudia Ivan sold the factory, the police seized more than fifty food processing businesses, large and small. They arrested dozens of rogue people in business in just half a month.

Since Bulgaria does not have laws related to food safety, their conduct becomes problematic.

If they need to pay a little money to set things right, according to the usual way, it is not necessary to seal the plant and arrest people. But now, under the pressure of public opinion, no one dares to put down gently!

The government soon introduced the draft Food Safety Management Act under popular demands. However, the specific standards of law enforcement were again controversial.

The standard is set too high, which food processing businesses can not do. Even if they barely meet the standard, the price is not acceptable to ordinary people. The bar is set too low, and the people are afraid that they can not accept.

The capitalists in the food processing sector are not stupid. Now, they are naturally "all the eight immortals are showing their skills"1). They buy experts, scholars, and newspapers to guide public opinion and spend a lot of money on public relations for the government in a vain attempt to lower the standards.

The capitalists, who are deeply involved, are trying to get away with all sorts of tricks. They are trying to lower the penalty clause in an attempt to get away with it.

But clearly, they thought wrong this time. Konstantin, who was looking for a chance to enter, could not let go of this opportunity sent to his door.

...

To calm public opinion, Ferdinand instructed the government to hold public debates. Relevant experts, scholars, and the press were invited to participate, and they selected several representatives from various sectors.

During the public debate, Konstantin, on behalf of the government, read out a draft of the newly enacted Food Safety Management Act.

"Mr. Konstantin, is this standard too high? Can it really be achieved? If most businesses can't meet it by then, what will we do?" A reporter asked puzzledly.

Konstantin said confidently, "Don't worry, these standards are made after we conducted a market survey. There are already some businesses on the market that can do it. It is technically doable, and at the same time, the cost will not increase greatly."

Kobiev (the capitalist) objected, "But most businesses can't do it!"

Konstantin replied firmly: "What does it matter? We aim to provide the public with safe and secure food. If most companies can't do it, let's give the market to the powerful ones! It is the law of nature!"

"But what about capacity? We cannot build our business in one leap. It needs to be improved gradually to be able to meet the market demand!" Kobrev said, thrilled.

Konstantin smiled and said: "This is absolutely nothing to worry about it. Most food processing is not very hard in terms of technology. Expanding the capacity will only take a few short months. I believe that the short-term loss for the quality of life is fine with the public for the sake of life safety. As for gradual progress? Sorry that the people can't wait any longer. Our government can't continue to let everyone eat chronic poison!"

Just as Konstantin's words ended, it greeted him with a thunderous round of applause.

Kobiev saw this and went on feebly arguing, "But it would create a terrible monopoly! Think of the entire Bulgarian food market being monopolized by one or a few businesses. When the market is dead, what a terrible scenario!"

Before Konstantin could speak, Aleko jumped ahead of him and angrily questioned Kobiev: "No more terrible scenario could be worse than the present! You greedy devil! At least the food we eat is safe. Our lives are guaranteed. We don't have to worry about going to God as we do now at any time!"

Once again, thunderous applause rang out as Aleko's words spoke to the hearts of everyone. Somehow someone shouted, "Get out of here, greedy devil!"

It was then echoed by the crowd, chanting in disarray, "Get out of here, greedy devil!"

Seeing the severe anger made, the frightened Kobiev fled and did not care about the purpose of today's visit.

The rest of the course went smoothly. It was when everyone was terrified by the news reports and felt unsafe with whatever food they had except eggs.

Rich people are okay. They simply go to the countryside to buy raw materials for their own processing or go to the Volvo to buy food for the aristocracy. Some even merely changed to eat eggs so that the price of egg food soared.

But the suffering of the common people, who can not afford to buy high-grade food, eating ordinary food, is like eating poison for a long time to have lost appetite.

After the introduction of the Food Safety Management Act, Bulgaria completely banned substandard food from the market. The police became busy, seizing substandard goods and arresting rogue traders everywhere.

To meet the population's needs, the government also purchased a large batch of raw materials from the countryside and pushed them to the market. The general public had to do their own homemade food processing for the safety of their lives.

The good thing is, Shuanghui Food Group was prepared in advance to stock a large number of qualified food to be marketed to calm the storm.

Taking a chance to reorganize the food processing sector, Ferdinand has completed its de facto monopoly on the Bulgarian food business.

Translator:

1). It contains a positive meaning. Sometimes used as a negative; to express sarcasm. It is often used as a metaphor for a group of people who have their own way of doing things or have their own skills to accomplish a common causegenerally used as a clause or predicate.