Linköping turns to localism when it comes to food

Schools and nursing homes will feature wild boar on their menus, among other things

In the modern world, progressive thinking often falls into a dilemma whether one should opt for locally-sourced nutrition or for food that is organically grown. The two do not always overlap – at least for the time being.

In the case of the Swedish Municipality of Linköping the choice is now clear – food grown nearby will be of preference since that provides a clearer track to sustainability. One hundred percent of the charcuterie and meat products that the Municipality buys are now locally produced. Recently, the City has signed an agreement with a company that, among other things, supplies wild boar meat.

Affirming a tradition in local tastes

Linköping Municipality has four suppliers of locally produced food. Two of them supply meat and charcuterie. The municipality's meal unit currently only serves locally produced meat and charcuterie products in the institutions, which are under the care of the local government. 

This is possible because the companies that won the procurement lived up to the quality expectations that the municipality had. In reality, the requirements for the procurement cannot state that a product has to be locally produced, as it would be discrimination against free-market rules. The suppliers, however, must be able to meet Swedish requirements, such as animal rights and using a sustainable return system in delivery and fortunately, the local food producers lived up to the expectations.

What is the municipal food policy?

Locally produced food comes from Östergötland and neighbouring counties. The proportion of locally produced food is 30-35%. The proportion of food that comes from Sweden is 54%. The corresponding figure when it comes to animal foods from Sweden is 93%. Some foods, though, cannot be bought in Sweden, such as coffee, bananas and cocoa.

The food services of Linköping prepare large parts of the food from scratch and try to offer organic and local produce as much as possible. The municipality's diet and meal policy states, among other things, that the focus for the municipality is to choose foods that are seasonally adapted and organically and ethically produced.

The purchases of organic products constitute about 30%, meaning some overlap in the earlier dilemma is possible. 

“Both are important, and it is difficult to set them against each other. But personally, I prefer cabbage grown on the Östgötland plain than an organic tomato that is grown in greenhouses in Spain during the winter,” stated Åsa Kullberg, the municipality's business area manager for Food and Restaurants.

Her organization prepares and serves approximately 25,000 portions of food per day to the municipal schools, preschools and care homes, service houses, safe housing and home care services for the elderly.