Bakgrund Livsmedelslagen bygger på livsmedelssäkerhet för att skydda konsumenternas hälsa och ligger till grund för livsmedelsinspektörernas arbete och livsmedelsföretagarnas verksamheter. Tidigare studier visar att många livsmedelsföretagare var nöjda med livsmedelsinspektörernas arbete men att de också såg många tänkbara förbättringsmöjligheter i livsmedelskontrollen. Syfte Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka förbättringsmöjligheter som fanns för livsmedelsinspektörerna gällande kommunikation, bemötande och tydlighet sett ur livsmedelsföretagarnas perspektiv. Metod En kvantitativ studie där kvalitativ metod tillämpats i delar av arbetet. Målgruppen var restaurang- och pizzeriaägare i en norrländsk stad i Sverige. En Internetenkät användes för att samla data från livsmedelsföretagarna, de som inte gick att nå via Internet kontaktades via telefon. För att få en livsmedelsinspektörs syn på tänkbara problem gjordes en intervju med en livsmedelsinspektör från Miljökontoret i den norrländska staden. Data bearbetades främst genom beskrivande statistik och diskussion kring förbättringsmöjligheter utifrån livsmedelsföretagarnas svar. Resultat Livsmedelsföretagarna var i helhet nöjda med livsmedelsinspektörernas arbete. De flesta var positiva till livsmedelskontrollerna samtidigt som de gav förslag på förbättringsmöjligheter som exempelvis mer insyn i branschen, fokus på rätt saker, fler provtagningar och bättre insyn i hur många som talar ett annat språk. Kontrollrapporten uppgavs vara relativt lätt att förstå men kunde bli otydlig samt att den ibland innehöll ytterligare anmärkningar än det som sagts under kontrollen. Trots att livsmedelsföretagarna tyckte sig förstå kontrollrapporten kunde livsmedelsinspektören ibland se att avvikelser som påpekats inte blivit åtgärdade. Slutsats För att förbättra livsmedelskontrollen kan livsmedelsinspektörerna utveckla sin tydlighet både vid livsmedelskontrollen och i kontrollrapporten. / Background The Food safety legislation is made to protect the health of consumers and is the basis for food inspectors and food business operators'. Even though previous studies show that many food business operators' were satisfied with the food inspectors, there still are many potential possibilities for improvements. Objective The objective was to investigate the possibilities for improvement among food inspectors regarding communication, conduct and clarity seen from the food business operators' perspective. Methods This was a quantitative study in which qualitative methods was applied in some parts. The target group was the restaurant- and pizzeria owners in the North of Sweden. An Internet questionnaire was used to collect data from the food business operators'. Those who could not be reached through Internet were contacted by telephone. To get a food inspectors point of view of potential problems an interview with a food inspector was performed. Data were mainly processed through descriptive statistics and discussion based on the answers from the food business operators'. Results Almost all of the food business operators' were positive about the food control, even though they gave suggestions for improvement. The food business operators' wanted the food inspector to have more insight in the food production, focus on the right things, better insight in people speaking a different language and more food sampling. The inspection reports was relatively easy to understand but could be indistinct, sometimes it contained additional notes. Despite that the food business operators' responded that they understood the inspection report the food inspector could sometimes see that the deviations was still remaining. Conclusion To improve the food control the inspectors could be even clearer during both the food controls and inspection reports.

Bakgrund: En studie från Livsmedelsverket där totalt 13 kommuner och en region (Skåne) deltog visade att avvikelser inom redlighet var väldigt vanligt, över 81 % av alla verksamheter hade en eller flera avvikelser inom redlighet. Det finns flera studier om redlighet ur konsumenters perspektiv samt undersökningar från myndigheter, däremot saknas studier ur restaurangverksamheternas perspektiv.   Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka restaurangpersonalens inställning och erfarenhet till redlighet. Ytterligare ett syfte var att undersöka om det fanns något samband mellan kön, ålder, erfarenhet, år i branschen, yrkesroll eller typ av verksamhet och inställningen till redlighet.    Metod: En webbenkät utformades och skickades ut till 110 verksamheter inom restaurangbranschen i Umeå, Sundsvall, Örnsköldsvik och Härnösand. Av dessa svarade 50 personer. Resultaten bearbetades statistiskt med ”Fishers exact test” med signifikansnivån (p<0,05).  Resultat: Studien visade att de flesta hade en positiv inställning till redlighet både för sina kunder och för personlig del. Deltagarna ansåg däremot att myndigheter inte regelbundet kontrollerar verksamheternas redlighet. Det fanns inget signifikant samband mellan syn på redlighet och utbildningsnivå, roll på arbetsplatsen eller antal år i branschen.   Slutsats: Restaurangpersonalen visar på en positiv inställning till redlighet men visar mer spridda åsikter om myndigheternas kontroll och informationsskyldighet. Huvudsyftet med redlighet är att inte vilseleda konsumenter och för att uppfylla detta genom att minska avvikelserna, krävs ett närmare samspel mellan myndighet och verksamhet.

Primary production control of food in Sweden How does the county administrative boards work with improvements?     Author: Mikaela Stenlund   Abstract The county administrative boards are the responsible administrative authority for the primary production control of food in Sweden. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the county administrative boards work with improvements on primary production control of food, compared to some aspects from the Swedish National Audit Office report RIR 2014:12 and if any improvements can be seen at the present time. A survey was performed to find out if any improvement had been made. The survey included both quantitative and qualitative questions about food control, registration, control frequency, cooperation, resources and competence. 18 of the 21 county administrative boards answered the survey. The result from the survey indicate improvements in some fields of the primary production control of food, compared to the report RIR 2014:12. Areas that indicated improvements are an increased control frequency of registered primary production producers and that there were an increased proportion of registrations of the primary production producers that are required to register. Cooperation between the county administrative boards in addition to contacts for advice and support also indicated improvements.     Keywords: primary production, food control, official control, cross complience

Verksamhetsutövare inom livsmedelsbranschen har ett ansvarar för att den mat som producerats är säker. År 2009 gjordes ändringar i den svenska livsmedelslagen där bland annat kraven försvann på att verksamhetsutövare måste ha skriftliga rutiner och dokumentation (Lindblad, Westöö, Lindqvist, Hjertqvist & Andersson, 2009). Oavsett om verksamhetsutövarna har skriftliga rutiner och dokumentation eller inte måste de kunna bevisa att de har tillräcklig kunskap för att arbeta med livsmedelshantering. Genom ett fungerande system för egenkontroll, alltså en egen kontroll av verksamheten, skapas säkra livsmedel och risken för matförgiftning minskar (Israelsson, 2006). Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka verksamhetsutövarna inom livsmedelsbranschens uppfattning om egenkontroll. Denna studie bygger på kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer med sex stycken verksamhetsutövare inom livsmedelsbranschen och en livsmedelsinspektör. Urvalet av respondenter till studien begränsades till en kommun i södra Sverige. Samtliga intervjuer spelades in och transkriberades sedan ordagrant för analysering. Respondenterna i studien såg positivt på förändringen i dagens lagstiftning, men många hade ändå valt att ha kvar sina gamla egenkontrollprogram. De såg det som en säkerhet och trygghet i att kunna gå tillbaka till den och luta sig mot de rutiner som fanns nedskrivna. / Food businesses are responsible to ensure that the food they produce is safe. In 2009 changes were made to the Swedish laws on food safety, with one of the resulting changes being that the previous requirements of having written procedures and documentation disappeared (Lindblad, Westöö, Lindqvist, Hjertqvist & Andersson, 2009). However, whether a business has written procedures and documentation or not, it must still be able to prove that it and its employees have enough knowledge to safely work with food. Through a functioning system of self-monitoring, the risk of food poisoning decreases (Israelsson, 2006). The aim of this study is to investigate the food business' opinion regarding the self-monitoring system. This study is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with six operators within the food business as well as one food inspector. The respondents to the study were geographically limited to southern Sweden. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. The respondents in this study were positive to the change in current law, but many still chosen to retain their old self-monitoring system. They saw it as a safety measure as well as being beneficial when it comes to going back and look at the documented routines.

Swedish local governments participate in different forms of intermunicipal cooperation in particular policy fields to achieve benefits of scale. This is often thought to improve efficiency and/or facilitate recruitment of experts and other competent personnel, aspects which are considered deficient in many municipalities as a consequence of demographical changes. Intermunicipal cooperation has become a widely used measure to face these challenges.However, there is little empirical evidence supporting that benefits of scale are realized – and the many forms of cooperation municipalities participate in is considered to affect local governments’ democratic anchorage negatively due to the principal-agent problem that arises. In this essay the effects of intermunicipal cooperation have been studied in an explorative way, with both quantitative and qualitative methods. Firstly, the effects on efficiency and need of additional personnel are examined with descriptive statistics from local government environmental inspection (food safety). Secondly, interviews have been conducted with local politicians and local government head officials exploring how the democratic deficit arising from intermunicipal cooperation is perceived from a transaction cost perspective. The interviewees represent a total of four municipalities (medium or small sized), two of which engage in a joint committee in local government environmental authority (which includes food control), the other two engage in a joint administration in the same policy field.The findings from the descriptive statistical analysis does not give solid evidence of improved efficiency or improved organizational competencies. However, the interviewees percieve these aspects as improved by intermunicipal cooperation. The findings from the qualitative approach is that the democratic deficit is perceived as problematic by the local politicians, but that several circumstances influence how problematic it really is. If the municipality needs cooperation to function, and the cooperation delivers satisfactory service, the principal-agent problem is more likely to be tolerated by the principal i.e. the citizens. Other factors seem to matter as well, factors such as: which policy field the cooperation is conducted, if the service is kept in the municipality’s vicinity, and if there is trust between the cooperating municipalities.