Food hygiene in Sweden: implementing Reg. (EC) 852/2004

This page is the hub for Sweden's implementation of Reg. (EC) 852/2004. It gives the overall picture and links to the detail pages and the other jurisdictions covered in the countries pillar.

The division of powers

Sweden follows the opposite model to strongly centralised States: competence for food control is strongly decentralised to the municipal level. Most official controls of food businesses are carried out by the municipalities (kommuner), through their environmental and food-control committees; the county administrative boards (länsstyrelser) operate at other levels, and the national agency, Livsmedelsverket (Swedish Food Agency), coordinates the system and issues its guidance. In our view this is what most sharply sets the Swedish case apart: whereas in the Netherlands the business deals with a single national authority and in Italy with the regional health authorities, in Sweden the actual counterpart is the municipality where the establishment is located. For a comparison with another decentralised model, see also the Spain page.

Registration and approval

Reg. 852/2004 requires every food business operator to notify each establishment to the competent authority for registration Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. In Sweden this notification is made to the control authority of the municipality (kommun) where the establishment is located. Most businesses — bars, restaurants, retail shops — are subject only to registration. Establishments handling products of animal origin (slaughterhouses, cutting plants, dairies, fishery-product establishments) may instead be subject to approval (godkännande) under Reg. (EC) 853/2004 Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004: an express decision that verifies the requirements before start-up. The difference between the two is explained in the concept registration vs approval.

Self-checking, training and branschriktlinjer

Every food business must put in place self-checking procedures based on HACCP principles Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and ensure the training of staff who handle food Annex II, Chapter XII, point 1 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. The Swedish specificity is the use of branschriktlinjer: sector guides to good hygiene practice, drawn up by trade associations and assessed by Livsmedelsverket, that help businesses apply the hygiene requirements and HACCP principles with the flexibility the regulation allows Article 5(5) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. The regulation itself encourages the development of national guides to good practice Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004: the branschriktlinjer are the Swedish implementation. They remain voluntary support tools: they do not replace the business's responsibility. The operational picture for training is covered in HACCP training in Sweden.

Official controls and penalties

Official controls are organised under Reg. (EU) 2017/625 Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, which repealed the earlier Reg. (EC) 854/2004 and 882/2004. In Sweden enforcement falls mainly to the municipalities, which schedule inspections and verifications on a risk basis, with Livsmedelsverket coordinating. At national level, the Swedish Food Act (livsmedelslagen) governs the applicable measures, including administrative sanction charges (sanktionsavgifter): organising the implementation, controls and penalties of the regulation is a matter for the Member State Article 1(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. For a comparison between the decentralised Swedish model and the centralised Dutch one, see the countries pages and the country-comparison tool.