PRESS INFORMATION

Swedish raw materials
make Swedish food more exciting

Guaranteed salmonella-free chicken! Pork from pigs that lived a healthy, happy life! Big cheeses, round and yellow as the sun. The choice ought to attract all the world’s food buyers and food enthusiasts.
That’s the view of a score of Swedish food companies who aim to show at Anuga that Swedish foods are of the highest quality and lend themselves to in every style of cooking.
“For the gourmet, the fast-food eater, and the animal friend, European or oriental. There’s a place for pure, unadulterated raw materials in every kitchen”, say the Swedish exhibitors.

The rest of Europe often sees the Swedish culinary repertoire as limited to vodka, meat balls, crispbread and pickled herring.

Healthy animals are never given antibiotics
“Now that Sweden is a member of the EU, it’s high time we stressed the quality of our raw materials, especially pork and chicken”, says animal expert Gunnela Ståhle at LRF (the Swedish National Farmers’ Association).
Through voluntary agreements between farmers, and by legislation, Sweden can, for instance, guarantee salmonella-free chickens. As for pork and beef, it is just as certain that the animals have never been given a hormone pill or a course of antibiotics unless they were ill. In Swedish animal husbandry, the fundamental idea is to attend to the health of the animals in a natural animal environment, which, it is claimed, results in consistent meat quality.
“This means that we chefs know in advance how the meat is affected by different cooking techniques”, says Cristina Gaitan, a chef who has represented Swedish cuisine at many international trade fairs and competitions.
Sweden, which is also a crop-growing country, became aware of the environmental risks of chemical pesticides at an early stage. In ten years, Sweden’s farmers have reduced pesticide use by around 75 percent, a record that LRF’s grain experts believe will be hard to beat.

Quality at a good price
The cost of meeting the quality requirements used to be reflected in relatively high food prices.
“Today, Swedish farmers are ahead of the rest, having invested heavily in environmental adaptation. Add to this the relatively low valuation of the Swedish krona during the 1990s, and choosing Swedish quality is quite a simple matter.” That’s the opinion of Jan-Olof Bengtsson at Food From Sweden, which is responsible for the Swedish pavilion at Anuga.

For additional information:
Food From Sweden, Annika Sjöstrand
Box 5513 S-114 85 STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 783 8500
Fax: +46 8 662 9093


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