Sweden: food inspections

Chef Hygiene follows EU Regulation 852/2004 and the Swedish Food Agency’s guidance (Kontrollwiki) and the Visita restaurant guide, because no Swedish law sets restaurant temperatures; the municipality inspects.

Inspection body

Municipal environment and health committee (kommunens miljö- och hälsoskyddsnämnd), led by the Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket)

Your municipality inspects restaurants and cafés through its environment and health committee (Livsmedelslag 2006:804). The Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket) leads and coordinates the control. The county boards support and audit the municipalities.

Controls are unannounced as a rule (EU Regulation 2017/625). How often depends on a risk class: a small restaurant gets about 1 control a year, as an official example (guidance). You pay by the hour afterwards, at your municipality’s rate. After a deviation you get a report and about 2 weeks to answer. Then the municipality can give an order, which can carry a fine (vite), a ban or a temporary closure.

Hygiene rating

There is no national rating, sticker or smiley, and no duty to show a result. The national result words are Utan avvikelse (no deviation) and Avvikelse (deviation). Some municipalities publish results in their own way, and reports are public on request.