A controversy surrounding the illegal repackaging of out-of-date meat led the
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
grocery store
A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...
chain
ICA to take actions towards a better quality work in the stores. Prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into four stores in the ICA supermarket chain, after a television documentary aired on December 5, 2007, revealed that they had repackaged out-of-date
ground meat
Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...
and put it back on the shelves in four of the largest hypermarkets in
Sweden. ICA apologised, suspended all of its
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
commercials and summoned all 1,400 store managers to an emergency meeting in
Stockholm.
Background
ICA food stores in Sweden are all owned and operated independently, although operations are co-ordinated and wholesale operations are run centrally. ICA is 60% owned by the
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
retailer
Ahold
Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. It merged with Belgium-based Delhaize Group in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize.
History
Growth in the Netherlands
The company started in 1887, when A ...
, with the remaining 40% owned by Hakon Invest, which is majority owned by local store managers who are also
franchisers
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...
of the ICA brand. In 2006, The Swedish division, ICA Sverige AB (literally: ICA Sweden Ltd), operated 1,397 retail stores, run by some 1,400 store managers. The largest stores are operated under the store brand ''Maxi ICA Stormarknad''; these are hypermarkets with a full range of groceries as well as fashions, homewares, entertainment and electrical goods. Before the food safety irregularities were revealed, the ICA brand was regarded as one of the most trusted retail brands in Sweden, and the most trusted retail brand among the grocery store chains.
There has been a general prohibition of relabeling packed meat for many years in Sweden.
[Märking av kött](_blank)
Livsmedelsveket (National food administration) official website. The current legislation and a major part of the Swedish National Food Administration Regulations are based on
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
law. According to the National Food Administration, some 1,000 food safety inspectors make annually between 25,000 and 30,000 inspections in the country. As regards to the retail market, the local municipalities are responsible for controlling and acting against food safety irregularities.
Irregularities revealed
On December 5, 2007,
Sveriges Television in its weekly investigatory documentary program ''
Uppdrag granskning
''Uppdrag granskning'' (English name: ''Mission: Investigate'') is a Swedish television program focusing on investigative journalism. The program is produced by and aired on SVT and has become known for the use of concealed cameras and microphon ...
'' (literally: ''Mission: Investigation'') aired a number of secretly recorded video tapes of employees at four featured Maxi ICA Hypermarkets relabeling out-of-date
ground meat
Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...
, as well as grinding down other forms of meat past their 'best before' date to make ground meat (mince). In a video sequence viewers could watch an ICA employee picking up out-of-date pork chops from the floor, repacking and relabeling them. This could lead to infections such as
Escherichia coli
''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Esc ...
,
Trichinellosis
Trichinosis, also known as trichinellosis, is a parasitic disease caused by roundworms of the ''Trichinella'' type. During the initial infection, invasion of the intestines can result in diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Migration of lar ...
or
Streptococcus suis.
According to the rating institute ''MMS MediaMätning'', the documentary was one of the most watched television programs in Sweden that day, rating some 930,000 viewers.
Hans Hallén, a former quality control manager for ICA, revealed that the company knew that meat was being illegally repackaged as early as 2003. Hallén, who monitored ICA stores in southern Sweden from 2003–2005, said he had informed the company's managers of the exact practices that were exposed in the documentary program. According to Hallén, many stores engaged in practices such as repackaging meat in order to change the 'best before' date, saying that "they even re-minced meat that had already been out on the shelves, before repackaging it and putting it back out on the shelves". Sausage meats that had become old and sticky were also repackaged after rinsing, he said.
Hans Hallén, who was one of eight quality control managers employed by ICA until 2005, when the position was discontinued, said that "(his) main job was to train staff in order to ensure that scandals of this kind would not occur".
Store managers
*Mats Nilsson, Maxi ICA Hypermarket in
Nacka,
*Markus Lönnroth, Maxi ICA Hypermarket in
Botkyrka
Botkyrka Municipality ( ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba.
In 1971 ''Grödinge'' was merged with Botkyrka and in 1974 ''Salem'' was added. ...
,
*Jonas Berg, Maxi ICA Hypermarket in
Södertälje
Södertälje ( , ) is a city in Södermanland and Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. As of 2017, it has 72,704 inhabitants. Södertälje is located at Mälarens confluence in to the Baltic Sea through the lock in the ...
,
*Mikael Gadd and Mikael Andersson, Maxi ICA Hypermarket in
Haninge
Haninge Municipality (''Haninge kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area.
Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Öst ...
.
The store managers who were confronted with the footage defended themselves, saying that "failures in routines and ignorance" were behind the practice, and that employees must have done this "on their own initiative" after being told not to do so by management. According to ''Uppdrag Granskning'', Markus Lönnroth had also said that "everybody is doing this".
[Systematiskt köttfusk på ICA](_blank)
Uppdrag Granskning, Sveriges Television, December 5, 2007. Although confronted with compelling evidence, Jonas Berg said that "there is no evidence that
e haddone anything wrong".
On December 13, it was announced that Markus Lönnroth had resigned and transferred ownership of his hypermarket to ICA Sverige.
Reaction
Television viewers reacted strongly to the footage and the following day state prosecutors launched a criminal investigation. There have also been reports from at least two local food safety inspectors taking action. "After yesterday's program there are clear suspicions that a crime has been committed," said Daniel Selin, health inspector at
Nacka municipality
Nacka Municipality (''Nacka kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east-central Sweden. Its seat is located at Nacka. The municipality is situated just east of the capital Stockholm and the western parts are considered a suburban part ...
, one of the four municipalities to report stores.
[Ica till full reträtt efter köttfusk](_blank)
, TT via Sydsvenska Dagbladet, December 7, 2007.
ICA chief press officer Staffan Ekengren said the company had provided all the information that it possessed about the stores to the National Food Administration. "This is unacceptable, and I am surprised that it is so common and happens on such a systematic basis," he said, adding that it was "a clear breach" of the law. Ekengren said that ICA quality control managers are to visit the relevant stores at the weekend to hold meetings with those in charge. He also said that ICA's 1,400 independent store managers were to be summoned to an emergency conference with focus on food safety and ethics. Although the independent status of the ICA stores means that there is no possibility of sanctions, Ekengren said the incidents "make it relevant to discuss" whether a system of sanctions could be introduced. "These are large, successful stores which have acted in a completely irresponsible manner," he added. "We have had serious conversations with the merchants involved. They are naturally aware that a very major error has occurred," said Ekengren.
On December 6,
ICA decided to suspend all its
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
commercials, and only focus on the meat packing scandal. After criminal charges were brought against four of its stores, ICA issued an extended apology to its customers on its website. On December 10 there were reports of similar food safety irregularities also at ICA's main competing grocery store chains;
Coop Norden
Coop Norden was a Scandinavian retail chain. It was based in Sweden and owned by three major cooperative retail companies: Sweden's KF (42%), Denmark's FDB (38%), and Norway's Coop NKL (20%). During its years of operation, Coop Norden ran around ...
and
Axfood (with its store brands Hemköp and Willy's). According to Axfood, at least two of the chain's store managers have been fired due to illegal repacking of meat. On December 11, the Swedish National Food Administration filed criminal charges against the four Maxi ICA Hypermarkets where the irregularities had been revealed by the documentary for breach against the Food Safety Act and
fraud.
[Köttfusk även hos andra kedjor](_blank)
TT via Svenska Dagbladet, December 11, 2007.
On December 11, more than 1,000 of ICA's 1,400 Swedish store managers summoned at the emergency meeting in Stockholm, where CEO Kenneth Bengtsson said that the food safety irregularities had occurred also outside the four stores covered by the investigatory documentary. It was reported that ICA decided on "zero-tolerance" against food safety irregularities, as well as the introduction of an annual 3,000 un-announced self inspections throughout the network of ICA stores.
After the food safety irregularities were revealed, sales of ground meat fell by up to 50% at some ICA stores. At the same time, a survey showed that 50% of the consumers have no trust in the food safety in the retail market.
Förtroendekris för butikernas hantering
Dagens Nyheter, December 11, 2007.
See also
* Food safety
*Food quality
Food quality is a concept often based on the organoleptic characteristics (e.g., taste, aroma, appearance) and nutritional value of food. Producers reducing potential pathogens and other hazards through food safety practices is another important fa ...
*Foodborne illness
Foodborne illness (also foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food,
as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease ...
References
External links
Systematiskt köttfusk på ICA
Uppdrag Granskning, Sveriges Television.
ICA AB
Official website (English)
Media
The ICA meat repackaging report (video)
Sveriges Television.
Interview vith ICA CEO Peder Larsson (video)
Sveriges Television.
Hans Mosesson (Mr ICA-Stig in the grocery chain's long running commercials (video)
ICA-Stig's reaction (YouTube)
{{Consumer Food Safety
Food safety scandals
Food recalls
Crime in Sweden
2007 in Sweden
2007 health disasters
Fraud in Sweden
Health disasters in Europe