Bulgaria presents new varieties of plant crops and space foods at EXPO 2025 in Japan

The World Expo EXPO 2025 is held from April 13 to October 13, 2025, in Osaka, Japan, under the motto „Designing Future Society for Our Lives“. The exhibition venue is on the artificially created island of Yumeshima, where 28 million visitors are expected by its closing in October. The 158 participating countries present various projects that showcase technological progress in different fields and innovations in science in the context of increasing global contributions to environmental protection.

The ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the opening of the Bulgarian pavilion was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth Tomislav Donchev, the Ambassador of Bulgaria to Japan Marietta Arabadzhieva, and the Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Dr. Boyko Takov.

The Bulgarian pavilion is located at a key location – next to one of the main entrances, between the pavilions of Singapore and the Netherlands.

The motto of our national pavilion is „Evolution with Nature“ in unison with the message that progress is part of nature. It is built from eco-friendly materials that will allow it to be fully recycled after the exhibition, and its total area is 376 m². It was constructed by one of Japan's largest construction companies – DAIWA LEASЕ CO. LTD. – based on a design by architect Hiroto Kobayashi, a professor of architecture at Keio University.

Bulgaria presents new varieties of plant crops and space foods during the week „Necessities for Life: Food, Clothing, and Shelter“ at EXPO 2025

During the thematic week „Necessities for Life: Food, Clothing, and Shelter“ at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, held from June 5 to 16, Bulgaria demonstrated its scientific potential in agriculture and the development of value-added foods, announced the press center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

The participation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Agricultural Academy drew attention to sustainable practices, plant breeding, and advanced technologies such as space foods.

At the opening of the  event in the Bulgarian pavilion, Dr. Lozana Vasileva, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, emphasized that the importance of agriculture is growing with its global contribution to environmental protection, job creation, rural development, and ensuring food security.

„Innovations are a driving force and a key factor for sustainable growth and added value in the agriculture and food production sector. They are an opportunity to respond to global economic challenges and increase the competitiveness of our agricultural industry. Bulgaria is a small country, but it has significant achievements in priority areas such as plant breeding and the production of space foods,“ stated Dr. Lozana Vasileva, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food, at the opening of the  event in the Bulgarian pavilion.

During the thematic week in Osaka, the Chairperson of the Agricultural Academy, Prof. Violeta Bozhanova, gave a presentation on the latest plant selections from the „Maritsa“ Institute of Vegetable Crops at the Agricultural Academy. Among them are the varieties „Pink Heart“, „Scarlet Heart“, and „Pink Radiance“, which are considered a high achievement in tomato breeding. They also serve as an example of preserving tradition combined with possibilities for high productivity and disease resistance. This result is achieved through innovative breeding methods – DNA genotyping, comprehensive phenotyping, and metabolomic analyses.

The latest achievements related to accelerating the plant breeding process through an innovative methodology for remote sensing and machine learning for field phenotyping were also demonstrated.

Space Foods and Bioactive Products

The Director of the Agrobioinstitute at the Agricultural Academy, Prof. Ivan Atanasov, presented Bulgarian space foods with proven success in real Antarctic and other special missions. The new foods are a product of the unification of the institute's latest scientific achievements and the high-tech developments of the company „Antarta“. They also express the long-term strategic intention to combine quality, safety, tradition, and innovation in creating high value-added foods.

Bioactive products in the form of hygroscopic powder, extracted using modern technology for biomass utilization and waste from essential oil crops, were also presented.

Source and photos© : Ministry of Agriculture and Food