Over the past one hundred years, there has been an increasing globalization and industrialization of the food systems. As a result, the distance between the production and the consumption of food has increased, both in time and space and in the minds of people. There is also an increasing concern for the environmental effects of industrial farming and the long distance transportation of food. Sustainable agriculture and efforts to build more sustainable food systems has emerged in opposition to the global food market. The definitions of sustainability usually include environmental, social and economical aspects. To build more localized food systems is seen as one way towards increased sustainability.

In December 2008 the municipal council in Nybro, decided that the municipality shouldreduce the budget for food service. The budget should be reduced by 2 100 000 SEK.They decided that the children- and education committee, and the care committee would haveto lower their budget with 1 264 000 SEK respectively 636 000 SEK. The change have to bedone under two years, 60 % should be done under 2009 and 40 % under 2010.As a result of the decision, many kitchens have to become kitchens that only serve food, notcook it. This will result in preschool staff and nursing staff take over some of the tasks fromthe kitchen staff. The municipal council also decided that entrepreneurs could take over one(later two) cooking areas.A kitchen that serves food means that there isn?t any cooking involved.

The release of green house gases and the environmental impacts humans have on the environment are huge and might cause irreversible changes to our earth. Meat is considered to have large impacts on the environment, especially beef meat and therefore there have lately been considerable discussions on the sustainable level of meat consumption and production. The main goal with this thesis is to study sustainable meat production and meat consumption in the county of Dalarna in Sweden. Indicators for sustainable meat production and meat consumption were developed and applied on three cases. Interviews were carried out with a municipality in the region that represents the consumer and three beef farmers that represents the producers.

An organisation in Skåne, Miljösamverkan Skåne, presented a project in 2011 concerning food labeling. All municipalities in Skåne, audited certain products in several stores, in order to determine if they were labeled correctly according to law. Stores who produced their own food where also audited. As Swedes generally have an interest in buying and cooking food from different countries, the demand is increasing, which makes stores provide the customers with a large range of different products to accommodate the demand. This essay will discuss the results of the project and how incorrect food labeling can affect human health.

 The food-safety legislation in Sweden were changed and updated in 1996, much because of demands from the European Union for a common legislation regarding the food-safety issues in the EU. This report discusses how the Swedish authorities are dealing with the new legislation in Sweden. Further on the report presents how the food safety officers in the municipalities in Sweden are implementing this new legislation in their daily work, especially the requirements regarding the HACCP, Hazard Analysis Control and Checkpoints. The report shows that the implementation is quite slow and that many foodsafety-officers don?t implement the legislation in the same way all over the country.

Today there is a limited demand for quality certified cereal in Sweden. The demand can in the future increase and become a requirement for the entire market. Since the first of January 2005, grain producers in Sweden are food producers and traceability is important for the food industry. It is possible for grain producers to certify the productions under the certification IP SIGILL. The purpose of this essay is to explore why some grain producers continue to be certified while other producers end the IP SIGILL certification.

Today a lot of consumer and media interest lie in Food production. Food is something everyone of us has a relationship to hence foodstuff and their making is a topic of current interest.Cattle?s rearing is one of many factors that have begun to play a bigger role when consumersare selecting beef from the shops? meat counters. This may well be a result of productdiversification and greater investments towards marketing. Many cattle rearers considerseveral grounds for added values being linked to their products and consumers are becomingmore aware of these primary sector related added values.

In the year 1800, about 5 % of the world population lived in cities (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2012, 3). Today that number is about 70 % in Europe and North America, and in 2050 it is expected to be 86 % in the developed world and 67 % in the developing world (www, UN, 2009). In addition, the global population is expected to increase with 2.2 billion people until 2050. As a result of the population increase more food has to be produced which requires more transport from the countryside to the cities. However, this flow of resources faces some difficulties.

Launching and marketing a health food product is associated with larger problems than a launch of a traditional food product. There are several sales channels that can be used for a health food product, for example the product can be sold as a traditional food product, natural health food product or as a prescription drug. A smaller company can however experience problems while launching its product as a prescription drug because of the large costs associated with this particular sales channel. There is often no other alternative than to launch the product as a traditional food product, this can however create other problems because of the existing regulations on what can and cannot be mentioned in the marketing of a health food product. The limited amount of information about the product that can be enclosed together with it makes it hard for a company to differentiate and position it on the market.

The world?s growing need for energy together with a desire to ward off the worst consequences of global climate change has resulted in a never seen desire to invest resources in renewable energy sources. Biogas production through anaerobic digestion is one of those growing energy sources. In Sweden there are over two hundred plants that uses this biological process to break down organic substances while producing carbon dioxide and the energy-rich gas methane.This master?s thesis has focused on development of the mixture of different organic substances that is treated at a specific plant, namely Mosserud biogas plant.

Swedish agriculture faces future challenges regarding Food production and land use. Increased competition for agricultural land creates complex situations, where conflicts may arise when productive crop land is in demand not only for Food production but also energy- and fodder production. On top of that there is an obvious conflict of goals between agricultural production and non-agricultural exploitation of agricultural land. In several emerging economic regions it is noticeable how agricultural land is being expropriated for development of urban settlement and infrastructure, carrying potentially significant long-term effects. During the last decade the exploitation of agricultural land in activities other than Food production has increased in Sweden and is expected to continue in the same manor. Approximately 700 hectare of land in Sweden is diverted from Food production, annually, and in 2013, the Uppsala Municipality showed the greatest change in land use of all municipalities (SCB, 2013).

There are many eco-brands on food products. It can be confusing for the consumer to know which one to trust or choose and since July 2012, there is an EU law and a mandatory EU organic label that must be displayed on all food products marketed as organic, eco or bio.Organic brands from a consumer perspective have previously been studied in England. This is a similar study in the form of focus groups, to explore and examine how consumers perceive and trust organic brand or labels in Sweden. It also explores which knowledge consumers have regarding why a product has an organic brand and what it means.The study shows that consumers perceive organic brands by brand recognition rather than knowledge regarding what each label means. It also shows that the consumer is confused by and skeptical to the wide range of markings and symbols on organic food products.

The food industry is an important part of the Swedish economy, It is the fourth largest industry in Sweden in terms of number of employees and production value. Due to the increasing globalization, the Swedish food industry faces new conditions and challenges. Through the Swedish membership in the European Union in 1995 a whole new era of competition began for the Swedish agriculture and food industry. Markets that previously were closed now opened. In retrospect, it should be noted that the Swedish food industry managed well.

North of the city of Stockholm lies the area called Södra Roslagen composed of several municipalities. The purpose of this essay is to discover how local informants describe the food culture of the region and analyse why some types of food are mentioned and others are excluded. Several people within the food industry of Södra Roslagen were given surveys asking them to describe the food habits of the area, from commodities and certain dishes to traditions. These answers were analysed using the theories regional food, regiocentrism, revitalisation, placeless food and the idea of viewing culture through the long and the short perspective.One informant mentioned that professionals in the food industry of the region tend to follow trends from the rest of the world and another that many producers work with ecological requirements. Södra Roslagen was also defined by some as having a taste of summer as this coastal area sees an influx of visitors during that season.

Title: Food companies' work with CSR and its impact on consumer purchases of organic productsLevel: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business AdministrationAuthor: Maria Nilsson and Mikaela JaredalSupervisor: Agneta SundströmDate: June 2015Aim: The study aims to understand and describe how food chains affect consumer choice to buy organic food and how it affects their buying behaviour.Method: Firstly a qualitative study was conducted. It consisted of six semi-structured interviews with store managers and employees on Willys and Coop in Sala and in Nyköping. Secondly a quantitative study was performed in the form of a questionnaire with 80 consumers in Willys and Coop stores located in Sala and Nyköping.Result & Conclusions: We have seen that price is important when consumers decide whether to buy organic food or not. This has been noticed by the food chains who work actively with being able to offer organic food at lower prices. Other factors that affect the consumers choice to buy organic products are offers, displaying and advertising.