The strawberry season is here, and the Swedish Board of Agriculture must find out if berries that are labeled incorrectly are sold. The agency conducts random sampling in shops and at market sales.
When selling strawberries, it must be clear where the berries are grown and what quality class they are in, writes the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
“We get some tips from attentive consumers who suspect that strawberries are incorrectly labeled or who have encountered strawberries without labeling. All tips are appreciated and they can be very helpful in the work with the controls, says Christoffer Leijonwirth at the work in the press release.
If the Swedish Board of Agriculture finds unmarked strawberries or if they suspect cheating on the label, the berries can be sent for analysis.
Then the levels of the strawberries are measured by isotopes, which are variants of an element. The results are compared with reference samples from Swedish-grown berries. In this way, the authority can find out whether the strawberries are grown in Sweden or not.
The Swedish Board of Agriculture writes that the spring weather has been favorable for Swedish strawberry growers and that the supply of Swedish-grown strawberries is expected to be good in the coming weeks.