{"id":44802,"date":"2024-04-21T17:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T15:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.axfoundation.se\/?p=44802"},"modified":"2025-09-09T15:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T13:29:08","slug":"label-of-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.axfoundation.se\/en\/news\/label-of-origin","title":{"rendered":"Should Label of Origin Also Include the Origin of the Feed?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Christian Sj\u00f6land has a background in business, holding a MSc in Business Administation specializing in business development and internationalization. He is also a project manager in the program area Future Food at Axfoundation.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Christian Sj\u00f6land’s Sustainability Insights:<\/strong> Many would agree that buying local products is important, but one could argue that it\u2019s especially important in Sweden. At least when Swedes shop for meat, eggs, and milk in the store. Swedes have strong confidence in Swedish agriculture and often boast about its high environmental ambitions and low antibiotic use. Sweden is 83% self-sufficient<\/a> in pork, 87% in eggs, 76% in chicken, and 73% in milk. Recently, the Swedish government decided that restaurants must label the origin of meat, since many people want to choose Swedish when dining out<\/a>. But how \u201cSwedish\u201d is Swedish poultry, fish, and pork really? In times when crisis preparedness, supply security, and especially the consequences of environmental changes become more noticeable, perhaps it’s time for a label guaranteeing 100% Swedish feed?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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What are the challenges with animal feed?<\/h3>\n

In Swedish animal production<\/a>, 2.3 million tons of feed grains and 675,000 tons of protein feed (such as soy, fishmeal, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds) are used annually. Approximately 2% of the feed grains and 70% of the protein feed are imported. Adding this up, around 17% of all feed consumed by animals in Sweden is imported, while 83% of the feed comes from domestic production.<\/p>\n

Primarily, soy and fishmeal have been identified as the villains in this drama.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That actually sounds pretty good. The major challenge, however, is that protein feed, and especially imported protein feed, has a significant climate impact and poses high environmental risks.<\/p>\n

Primarily, soy and fishmeal have been identified as villains in this drama. For instance, a whopping 78% of Swedish ocean fishing goes towards fish feed<\/a> – a heavy exploitation of marine ecosystems driving them towards collapse. Soy, especially non-European soy, contributes to deforestation by encroaching on sensitive parts of our planet’s arable land, even if certified.<\/p>\n

In addition to the fact that the production of these protein feeds contributes to one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity, it’s also challenging to ensure environmental standards are met during production. The dependence on imported protein feeds also creates vulnerability in Sweden’s food supply during heightened crisis preparedness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moreover, grain production is almost entirely dependent on input goods: to create animal protein, feed is required, and to create feed, crops are needed, which, in turn, necessitates input goods such as fertilizer, fuel, and pesticides. So even if all feed were produced in Sweden, feed production would still be import-dependent, as Sweden currently imports all its fuel and pesticides.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Around 16-20% of chicken feed consists of imported soy. Photo: Unsplash<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Facts about animal feed<\/h2>\n
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