Organic foods trade – a criterion for ecological culture and challenges Bulgaria faces

The market of organic foods demonstrates a considerable development in the recent years – from a small niche serving a limited number of customers, today it is a market with increasing consumption. The demand of organic products is the result of consumers’ informed needs for healthy and safe foods and their ecological requirements. This is the most dynamic sector of the foodstuffs market in the world but the share of organic sales compared to the total amount remains around 2%. The paper examines in comparison the possibilities for development of organic agriculture and the organic foods market in Bulgaria in the period of accession to the European union. Based in the assumption that by buying organic products consumers take into account the need of sustainable development of the planet, ecological methods of agriculture in particular, the authors analyse the attitudes existing among Bulgarian producers and consumers of organic foods. The trends in the customers’ preferences and their ecological culture in Bulgaria are also studied. Conclusions about the state and the options of this market are drawn