Sweden: How food is marked

While I believe the intentions are good, there are so many different ways in which foods are labelled that I thought I'd write this post for myself to see if I can figure it out a bit. Trying to sift through all the logos is confusing. I thought I'd list them here not in order of importance, but in order of my own familiarity and those that I look for when food shopping. The first three, nyckelhål, KRAV and fair trade, are the ones I look for regularly. The others I note and they will often influence my purchase.

Nyckelhål (keyhole): Healthy food. Low in fats, sugar and salt, rich in fiber. Natural products such as fruit, fish and vegetables are included.


KRAV: the main ecological mark in Sweden. Protection of waters, no chemical pesticides, no GMO (gene modified food), no artificial fertilizers, good animal care with feed grown by same producer as much as possible. Working conditions must be adequate and there are requirements involving health and social responsibility. Upcoming requirements will include limits on greenhouse gas emissions in production and food transport. Individual controls to ensure that participating producers are actually following the rules.

Fair Trade - Rättvisemärkt: Guarantees producers and workers adequate compensation, especially in third world countries. Products are bought directly from the producer with long term contracts. This is one of my favorite labels that I look for, even if I only see it on a handful of different foods.



Svensk sigill: This one's for food produced in Sweden and involves environment, animal care, safe products and care of Sweden's open landscapes.




Svanen: Ecology and environment. Not just for food, now you can make sure the chairs you buy are also ecological. This mark is for a huge variety of ecological products including cleaning agents, fuels, envelopes, restaurants... it's a very long list.



EU ecological: 95% of the food must be ecologically produced. I don't see this label much. It's apparently less stringent than KRAV.







Bra miljöval: An environmental label regulating such things as household chemicals. I don't see it on foods very often.




I've already presented quite a list and yet I've skipped a bunch. There's a label just for sugar to indicate that it's 100% pure. Also a "Rainforest Alliance" which I've never come across that controls agriculture in rainforest areas. There's a symbol to indicate foods that have been subjected to ionizing radiation. There's a European version of the Swedish bra miljöval (good environmental choice) caled the European flower that I've never seen. There's one for asthma and allergies, another for gluten-free foods.

I found much of the info above in Sweden's National Food Administration's site - http://www.livsmedelssverige.org/markning/symbolguide.htm.