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 purpose of this study was to examine how food managers of Östergötland County disucss around their possibilities of reaching the government´s orientation towards 25 per cent of the food - procured, prepared and cooked in the school meal - coming from certified organic production. The study was a cross-sectional study in wich a qualitative approach was used. The sample consisted six food managers in Östergötland. Data processing was done through a semantic content analysis.  The result showed that involvment and intrest were significant factors for the introduction of organic food in the school meal. The three municipalities with the highest percentage of organic food used the SMART - concept.

Total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are two methods used for measuring organic pollutants in wastewater. Both methods are widely used but the COD method results in production of hazardous wastes, including mercury.The purpose of this study was to validate the method TOC that will replace COD and find a factor to convert TOC to COD. In this study 26 samples were analyzed from four sewage treatment plant in the municipality of Enköping.The results show that the COD method could be replaced by the TOC method.The factor for COD/TOC was between 3.1 - 3.3. Both methods will be used in parallel until 2013 when it will be forbidden to use the COD analysis..

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

The interest for organic food has grown a lot over the last 15 years. Even so, only 3.5 % ofthe share of wallet in Sweden goes to organic food. The purpose of this study is to examine and describe how retailers can get consumers to buy more organic fruits and vegetables. The study was carried out by visiting six Coop Konsum-stores, of which three performed poorly and three performed well in organic sales. We conducted interviews with the department managers, customer surveys and in-store observations.

Mussel meal is a potential source of protein, with a good composition of amino acids, for laying hens and broiler chickens, and may replace the use of fish meal in organic poultry production. Lead and cadmium are heavy metals which occur in the environment and can be accumulated in mussels. When poultry are exposed to heavy metals, the metals are absorbed in the small intestine and distributed in the body in the form of ions, complexes or bound to proteins. In poultry, lead accumulates in bone tissue, liver and kidneys, while cadmium accumulates in liver and kidneys. Generally very low concentrations of these heavy metals occur in muscles of broilers which have been exposed to feed contaminated with cadmium or lead.

With a starting point in the legislation for organic production set up by the Swedishcertification organization KRAV, the reasons to why these regulations are important isexplained and how pigs are affected by these rules. The study also shows how well the pigscope in the organic environment considering the origin of the genetic material; from theconventional pig population. The conclusion is that pigs do function fairly well in the organicproduction environment and the traits affecting their functionality involve: motheringabilities, strong legs, good meat quality, good sow durability and longevity, capacity to eatmuch roughage and dark skin color. There are however still many ways of improving theorganic population of pigs to make them more adjusted to the organic environment; forexample different traits brought into the breeding goals and the choice of good parent animals..

Organic agriculture is financially promoted in Sweden by special environmental support and as consumers we are all encouraged to buy organic food. At the same time scholars at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences claim that organic farming does not provide any environmental benefits. The main criticism is that organic farming has lower yields than conventional, which means that more land is needed to produce the same amount of food as in conventional farming, leading to deforestation and loss of biodiversity. As for climate change, the critics claim that the significantly higher productivity in conventional crop production compared to organic, releases surplus land, which could be used for bio-fuel production and thereby replace the fossil fuels. The critics also claim that organic farming causes higher nutrient leaching than conventional.

Out of totally 1862 hectares of the Swedish fruitacerage, only 142 hectares are cultivated according to the EU-standards for organic farming. Only 73 hectares are connected to the Swedish control organisation KRAV. Therefore only fruit from this acreage can be sold as organic. The aim of the study was to further investigate the organic fruit production regarding cultivation, market and firm strategy. Through interviews with 36 fruitproducers the situation for organic fruit and the companies were examined.

Organic material used for biogas production can also undergo other treatments. The emissions and impact from the different treatments are evaluated in this environmental assessment, with a focus on energy and climate. The materials included in the study are organic household waste, slaughterhouse waste and liquid manure. Other than biogas production, the possible treatments for organic household waste and slaughterhouse waste are incineration and composting, and for liquid manure storing and spreading. The analysis is based on data and information from current and relevant literature, and relates to the conditions in the Swedish energy system.

Changes in the environment are affecting the world market, and pressures from several stakeholders? are forcing different enterprises to adjust to the current situation. Farmers? difficult working conditions and environmental impacts of the conventional cotton production in India have been highlighted. The small-scale production that is characterising India?s cotton farmers implies an insufficient competition power.

Organic material used for biogas production can also undergo other treatments. The emissions and impact from the different treatments are evaluated in this environmental assessment, with a focus on energy and climate. The materials included in the study are organic household waste, slaughterhouse waste and liquid manure. Other than biogas production, the possible treatments for organic household waste and slaughterhouse waste are incineration and composting, and for liquid manure storing and spreading. The analysis is based on data and information from current and relevant literature, and relates to the conditions in the Swedish energy system.

As for today, a large quantity of protein feeds is imported from other countries to be used in the Swedish dairy production. The main import is soya from Brazil. The soya-production in Brazil results in negative consequences for the natural environment in the area, and the long transport of the feeds requires a lot of energy. The organic dairy production in Sweden is, with the highest probability going to be forced to use 100 % organic feed to the cows in the year 2005, due to new EU-rules. These are some of the causes why there are reasons to look closer at the possibilities to feed Swedish cows with only Swedish feeds. In this study, I have looked at the KRAV-rules for organic feeding, where the goal is feeding with only KRAV-approved feeds.

In order to facilitate trade between EU members, the European Committee has created regulations that will govern supervision of organic products. Every regulatory agency shall, according to the European Committees regulations, carry out a risk classification of each organic producer they regulate. This study for The National Food Administration compares regulation of Swedish organic products with other countries, and aims to produce a simplified model based on risk that can be the beginning of the risk classification model that Sweden in the current situation don?t have. The thesis is based on three questions: 1) What criteria should we use for assigning organic food producers? 2) How do selected European countries and frontrunners rate organic producers and what can Sweden learn from them? 3) How might a national classification model of organic production look in order to ensure an equivalent level of regulation and prevent competition among private inspection bodies? A review of information gathered from the different countries gave differing results.

The demand for biogas as vehicle fuel has risen sharply and there is a great need for increased production. A possible addition of vehicle gas can be produced by upgrading landfill gas which is formed by degradation of organic waste. This thesis investigates the potential of producing vehicle fuel from landfill gas in the region of Biogas Öst.In 2008, an amount of 32 million Nm3 landfill gas was extracted in the region. This level can be maintained for another ten years if the efficiency of gas extraction is improved. The annual production will decrease with time since landfills aren?t allowed to receive more organic waste.