Did the Bulgarian government lift the ban on imported grain from Ukraine as a method of exterminating the Bulgarian people because the grain was poisonous? No, that's not true: Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov stated that lifting the ban on imports from Ukraine would lower the prices of basic foodstuffs and inflation. There is no evidence suggesting that Ukrainian grain is radioactive and poisonous. Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev, confirmed that Bulgaria will increase border controls of Ukrainian produce, including checking for the presence of radioactive and heavy metals.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on September 12, 2023 and translated by Lead Stories staff from Bulgarian to English. It opened:
Poland proved that Ukrainian wheat is poisonous, that it is GMO, that they bring their contaminated wheat from Ukraine which is good only for burning. The Sorosoids Boyko and Dogan import it to Bulgaria. The goal is one - genocide. Will we protect our children from genocide?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Sep 20 18:52:17 2023 UTC)
After the Bulgarian Parliament voted in favor of lifting the country's ban on Ukranian grain imports on September 14, 2023 hundreds of social media and websites are spreading the false claim that the government wants to exterminate its people by importing radioactive, poisonous Ukrainian grain. Here is another example of this claim:
The government wants to poison and kill us. Here is evidence. The wheat from Ukraine is poisonous, GMO and radioactive. Life imprisonment for traitors.
The ban on Ukrainian grain imports was initially imposed by Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, motivated by concerns over the economic impact of a glut of cheap Ukrainian grain on their domestic markets. The ban aimed to protect the interests of local farmers and safeguard the stability of their agricultural sectors. Bulgaria lifted the ban on September 14, 2023. The decision was made after lawmakers argued that the ban had deprived the government of tax revenue and led to higher food prices. Farmers across Bulgaria protested against the move, complaining that the influx of Ukrainian grain would drive down prices for local growers.
On September 19, 2023 Prime Minister Denkov stated the following:
Regarding the quality of agricultural products, I repeat again, until now no problems have been identified from Ukraine regarding the quality of imported products. They are checked in the same way as the products imported from third countries and at the slightest indication of violations of the requirements, they will be returned back to Ukraine.
Lead Stories have previously debunked the false claim that the imported grain from Ukraine is poisonous and so far, no residual amounts of pesticides, heavy metals, presence of GMOs, or the presence of radioactivity have been detected.
