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‘Dangerous’ pesticides discovered in Swedish food

Chemicals banned by the EU have ended up in food sold in Sweden, an investigation for a new book, Miljödieten (The Environmental Diet), in collaboration with Sveriges Radio show Ekot has revealed.

Published: 22 March 2016 09:00 CET

'Dangerous' pesticides discovered in Swedish food

File photo of safe fruit in a Swedish store. Credit: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

The researchers announced on Tuesday that 22 of the world's most dangerous pesticides had ended up in foods sold in the Nordic nation in recent years.

They said that Sweden's national food agency, Livsmedelsverket, had found traces of the banned chemicals, but had not raised the alarm because the levels discovered did not exceed the agency's agreed limits.

However other experts speaking to Miljödieten said that the illegal pesticides were dangerous even in tiny quantities, with some of them even able to interfere with hormones and affect fertility.

“It's not only the amount of exposure that's relevant, but also when one is exposed to these substances,” explained Peter Bergkvist, from Sweden's national chemicals agency (Kemikalieinspektionen).

“It's really new knowledge, we are learning more and more about these kinds of effects,” he added.

According to Miljödieten, the banned pesticides found in Sweden were mainly discovered in food imported from outside the European Union. However some vegetables grown on European soil were also affected, including oranges from Spain, apples from Belgium, grapes from Greece and cucumbers from the Netherlands.

Livmedelsverket admitted to the book's researchers that banned chemicals had been discovered in around 150 cases in the last five years, but the agency insisted it was working hard to reduce exposure to dangerous substances in Sweden.

“The number of incidents that contain such high levels that they are harmful to us humans is declining,” said Petra Fohgelberg, a leading food inspector.

“If we focus on the exceeding of thresholds, the number has fallen dramatically since 2009 – there has been a clear downwards trend.”

However Bergkvist told the book's researchers that he would like to see Sweden's food agency revising its thresholds and working more closely with countries known to have exported products containing the banned substances.

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits.

SEE ALSO: What’s the tipping etiquette in Sweden?

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user).

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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