In our everyday life we are faced with many choices that have consequences on the environment. One of these is the food we choose to eat since food production has a big impact on the environment. In organic production the aim is to have a natural production process, where environmental impacts are minimized. By choosing organic food it is therefore possible to contribute to a better environment. A large number of meals are served every day in the public sector, which makes it an important player in the consumer sector that could make a major difference for the environment..

Today there is a keen competition between regions in the world for companies and inhabitants in order to improve regional development and economic growth. In many regions there is an active effort to create a good home base for companies and inhabitants. Since 2003 municipalities in nine counties in Sweden have come together in co-operative agencies in order to work towards more efficient regional development.This essay focuses on the relation between the state and the co-operative agencies in the regional development policy and which possibilities the state gives the co-operative agencies to pursue an efficient regional development policy, both legally and financially. I have researched and analysed this through models and ideas on how the state governs the administration and through the translation theory. The result of my study is that the co-operative agencies have a relatively large amount of freedom to make there own priorities, but the ability to act efficiently within regional development is limited..

This study is based on previous research concluding that sub-national actors now function on a complex arena where the nation state is not the sole and self-evident channel to the European Union. Based on that assumption, the thesis is intended to create understanding of the nature of the relationship between the West Sweden regional office and its Värmland commissioners in the case of regional action.The relationship between the regional office and its members was examined in a case study of open consultation around the EU?s new EU 2020 strategy. The questions posed in the thesis are answered by interviews with representatives of West Sweden and certain Värmland members of that organization. The results of the interviews were then analyzed based on a fusion perspective, which addresses various indicators for regional action.The results of the study show that the West Sweden regional office can assume a clearer role in regional influencing, but also that Region Värmland plays an important role in influencing the EU.

Sustainability Reporting has emerged and transformed over the past decades as a voluntary practice by companies across industries that desire to show proof of good conduct and environmental; social; and economic responsibility. As industrial food production is one of the largest contributors to contemporary environmental problems, it might be expected that reporting within the industry would be both well established and well understood. Unfortunately, it is neither. In light of the food industry?s considerable environmental impact and the growing popularity of plant-based food as a more sustainable alternative to dairy products, this paper assesses and briefly discusses the Sustainability Reporting of two companies in the plant-based food and beverage industry. The research was designed to compare the practices of Europe-based Alpro and US-based SoDelicious, and this study has two major purposes: to describe the reporting of the case companies and to subsequently compare their practices to the other as well as to global reporting standards. The empirical study in this paper was conducted through content analysis.

The craft of planners are planning for a better future. Knowledge about climate change, environment, health and availability effects the trend towards less car dependent societies in favour of public transport and active transport like walking and biking. This study takes place in Västerbotten, one of Sweden?s most north provinces with a population of 260 000 inhabitants. It is a sparsely populated area with two dominant cities, the other municipalities are largely unpopulated.

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.

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.

This thesis aims at analyzing why the municipality of Flen, in the eastern part of Sweden, has experienced strong depopulation for the last forty years in spite of its relative vicinity to Stockholm. The study uses current theories on regional developement, population theory and theories on regional enlargment to help explain and to evaluate the different regional factors that affect the developement of Flen on the local level. The thesis is primarily focused on the subject of regional policy and strategies to meet regional depopulation. The study also gives a presentation of the strategies of major regional institutions as well as analyzing what impact regional policy have on local policy in the municipality of Flen.Interviews with local officials, politicians and other people representing the population of Flen were carried out to achieve a better understanding of the specific challenges that the municipality faces and of the measures that are taken to meet them. Regional policy in Sweden prioritises measures that promote regional enlargment to link the housing and labour markets together with the regional infrastructure.

In this essay I discuss and analyse if we can witness any signs on regional dimension due to regional representation from our elected representatives in the five constituencies Malmö, Blekinge, Norrbotten, Uppsala and Stockholm. Two seperate terms of office between 1991-94 and 1998-2002 has been compared. In political science there has been much debate about the relationship between voters and their elected. By measuring each and everyone elected representatives in the work of produce introduced bills towards their own constitiency during both terms I have tried to see if there is an occurence of a regional dimension.The theory that´s been applied is based on geographical representation where one might aspect that central metropolitan areas and peripheral regions is somewhat over-represented in legislatures. By using a method of comparison between the five chosen constituencies and theirs elected representatives I have come the the conclusion that there is a weak tendency that this might be the case seen to a regional dimension perspective..

Det pågår många diskussioner kring mat i dagens samhälle. Temat för det här examensarbetet är svensk/regional mat i offentlig upphandling. Arbetets syfte har varit att göra en kartläggning av åtta kommuner i Mälardalen. Kartläggningen handlar om hur det ser ut i dagsläget angående inköpta volymer och belopp när det gäller olika produkter. Kartläggningen omfattar också information om produkterna är svenska/regionala samt hur nuvarande avtal med leverantörer ser ut när det gäller livsmedel inom den offentliga upphandlingen.

Because of a more globalised world the national states have been forced to make structural changes at both national, regional and local level to cope with different challenges. The regional community has become an important area which has resulted in a policy of more self governing, both for the regional and the local level.The aim of the thesis is to study the relation between regional and local level in the partnerships organisation. To fulfil the aim of the thesis, a case study of Region Skåne is used. The analyse is based on expressions such as cooperation, conflict, power and influence.The result of the thesis confirms that the opinion between the regional and the local level is very different. The representatives from Region Skåne experience the cooperation as quite good because it creates an opportunity for discussions and a possibility to learn from the other actors which in turn creates a qualification in the exchange of knowledge.

The purpose of this essay is to present, from a theoretical framwork about regional democracy, possible methods to handle the regional democratic problems in Östergötland in Sweden and to investigate the opinion of the political parties regarding this issue. Both the national and the local/regional level are investigated. The contents of the essay is based on literature studies and interviews of politicians in Östergötland. Regional democratic problems that is discussed are the political responsibility and the power distribution between the political actors on the regional level. A solution of the problem could be to organize the regional society structure in accordance with one of the following organization models"Statligt regionalt ansvar","Kommuner i samverkan"or"Regionalt folkstyre".

The aim of this study was to investigate how the process of implementing a quality management system for food safety was handled in four different food producing companies in Sweden. The aim was also to analyze what difficulties the companies face and the possibilities that arise when certified. Furthermore, the reason for implementation was discussed as well as the main expectations on the certificate. Implementing a quality management system is a good way of ensuring the quality and hygiene of the food production and it also increases the traceability of food products through the whole food chain. A food safety standard provides a method of preventing problems and crisis and it can also help to handle requirements from authorities, the market and others.

In our everyday life we are faced with many choices that have consequences on the environment. One of these is the food we choose to eat since food production has a big impact on the environment. In organic production the aim is to have a natural production process, where environmental impacts are minimized. By choosing organic food it is therefore possible to contribute to a better environment. A large number of meals are served every day in the public sector, which makes it an important player in the consumer sector that could make a major difference for the environment..