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Dyed pork scandal sinks Swedes' trust in meat

Published: 23 Nov 12 07:55 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/44602/20121123/

Only half of Swedes trust the meat industry following recent revelations that pork was dyed red and sold as beef to hundreds of thousands of people.

"We see the same trend all over the country, not even one in two put trust into how meat is handled," analyst Jon Andersson of polling firm Sifo told the daily Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

Women were more likely to be distrustful than men - 56 percent of female respondents to the survey lacked faith in the meat industry, while 47 percent of men said the same.

Sifo pointed out that women usually do the food shopping for their families.

A few years ago, polls showed that Swedes were quite trusting in comparison to their EU neighbours when it came to food.

Jan Bertoft, director of the Swedish Consumers' Association (Sveriges Konsumenter), thinks trust must be restored by beefing up inspection procedures for both wholesalers and retailers.

Most of the dyed meat out in the stores came from the Coop grocery store chain, but consumers have also reported in cases from Ica and Eurocash stores.

"I don't understand how a big and serious player like Coop didn't raise the alarm much earlier," Bertoft told SvD.

So far, meat wholesalers Heat, Barterinvest and CKA Chark have been reported for the scam.

They sold about 350,000 portions of fake-beef, according to SvD's calculations, much of which went out to restaurants.

The revelation sparked a political debate about who should be responsible for checking the supply chain.

At present, municipalities carry out inspections, but critics say the process should be centralized for greater oversight.

"It means you're left to question the quality of other products," said Bertoft.

"What is actually in that sausage?"

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09:05 November 23, 2012 by Mr G
Scandal surely?
10:46 November 23, 2012 by nolikegohome
just wait until the Muslims and Jews of Sweden find out. Its already out on Twitter.
10:49 November 23, 2012 by Beavis
Can Jan Bertoft, director of the Swedish Consumers' Association get his sorry bottom down to upplands väsby. Hemshop- have bought meat there 5 times each time returning due to the fact that it was rotten(even maggots crawling once!) coop, constatly gone off meat and vegetables. ica, gone off fish,meat, bread and vegetables. They also seem to think its ok to sell chicken past its sell by date at 25% off!!! Its only a matter of time before someone gets seriously ill or dies from salmonele. Have watched the fish- it comes in on Tuesday and goes on display on the fish counter until Friday. Then it gets packed and put on the other fish counter for 2 weeks (at the same price!!) I am desgusted about the lack of standards in retailers (at least in Stockholm) and wonders if these consumers assosication people ever get out of their caves or are open to bribes or what?Or are the fines just not big enough. Any retailer intenionally seling bad meat should be forced to shut for a month.
11:50 November 23, 2012 by robban70226
beef.. pork... well i like both so i dont care
11:54 November 23, 2012 by Jlindt
If Swede's were that outraged they'd boycott Co-op and Ica and go protest...
12:13 November 23, 2012 by robban70226
@Jlindt

Get a life, not a big deal if you dont like it dont buy it, simple..
16:45 November 23, 2012 by yractualpatience
Sadly this doesn't surprise me. Having lived in Sweden I can honestly say the food for sale in the shops is not only very limited, but of very poor quality, frequently out of date and very expensive. I believe that Swedish supermarkets are stocked with food that the rest of Europe has refused because it is of such poor quality. The diet of the average Swede is abysmal and because most Swedes have never had the quality and range of food available elsewhere in Europe they have no concept of how their supermarkets are fleecing them. Furthermore because of Lagom and because they are brainwashed from birth into believing "we are the best in the world" ideology, they are an easy target for greedy and unprincipled capitalists.
17:40 November 23, 2012 by ciaron9000
First thing that struck me when I lived in Sweden was how bad the food that was for ordinary decent Swede's.Most of the food is controlled by 3 or 4 producers with no artisan food at all,everthing is massproduced and yet so expensive,good meat is next to impossible to find,the milk has a strange aftertaste,only one type of butter and apart from the bakeries food culture in Sweden is very poor,most produce is sold on price with a limited choice.

What really amazed me is that Swede's think that Swedish food is unique,well it is for all the wrong reasons.
18:58 November 23, 2012 by dizzymoe33
This is sad. If a person has an allergy to pork products and they are buying what they think if beef and they get sick or worse die from that allergy then there is a liability there. I don't understand why quality food products aren't available in Sweden especially the produce?
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