Mapping
Vegan meals in Sweden's municipalities
An open, source-based mapping of how Sweden's 290 municipalities handle vegan meals in preschool, compulsory school and upper secondary school – and whether a medical certificate is required.
Statistics
290 municipalities mapped. The figures update automatically when the database changes.
0
🟢 Vegan meals freely available
52
🟡 Vegan meals available – application or notification required
11
🟠 Special assessment, dialogue or additional conditions
17
🔴 Vegan meals not offered
210
⚪ Cannot be determined
290 of 290 municipalities shown.
- Vegan meals freely available
- Application or notification required
- Special conditions
- Not offered
- Cannot be determined
Municipality list
Select a municipality on the map or in the list to see the underlying sources.
How the classification works
The colour indicates how accessible a complete vegan meal is according to the municipality's current information. Green is the highest level and means that vegan food is available as a regular option without an individual application or special approval. Yellow means that vegan food is available but must be requested or registered. Orange indicates additional conditions or individual assessment. Red means that a complete vegan meal is not offered according to the municipality's information. Grey is used when the available information is insufficient for a reliable classification.
- Vegan meals freely available
- A complete vegan meal is offered as a regular option without requiring the student/guardian to submit an application, register the dietary requirement, provide documentation, or obtain special approval.
- Vegan meals available – application or notification required
- The municipality provides a complete vegan meal, but the student/guardian must apply for or register the dietary requirement in advance. A standard administrative application or notification procedure therefore results in a yellow classification.
- Special assessment, dialogue or additional conditions
- Vegan meals may be provided, but access requires, for example, an individual assessment, dialogue with the school or municipality, special approval, or other conditions beyond a standard application or notification.
- Vegan meals not offered
- The municipality's current information indicates that a complete vegan meal is not provided within the relevant school category, or its rules explicitly exclude vegan meals.
- Cannot be determined
- The municipality's current policy regarding vegan meals cannot be established with sufficient confidence from publicly available information.
Unclear does not mean no
When a municipality is marked as unclear it means that, after review, FFVR has not been able to establish from the municipality's publicly available information whether a complete animal-free meal is offered. The municipality may well offer such meals even if this is not sufficiently clear from the public sources.
FFVR's municipal review – Version 1.1
Verified: September 2026. All 290 municipalities have been reviewed against official municipal sources such as websites, e-services, special-diet forms, meal policies and decisions. Municipal policy can change; always check the linked municipal source for the latest information. FFVR does not control municipal policy and cannot guarantee the outcome of an individual application.
What does the map show?
The map shows the result of FFVR's review of each municipality's own official information about a fully animal-free meal — no meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, honey or other animal-derived ingredients — in preschool and school. A vegetarian alternative on its own is not counted as animal-free.
Each school level is shown separately and is never inferred from the overall status. A grey municipality does not mean that vegan meals are refused — it means the public information was not sufficient to establish the answer.
Swedish Food Agency – national guidance
The Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket) states that vegan food is not a medical special diet and that vegan meals can be served in preschool, school and health and social care. It also states that the governing documents for preschool and school do not regulate what kind of certificate may be required for special diets.
This national guidance does not in itself create an individual statutory right to vegan meals. FFVR's legal and advocacy position is a separate question.
Livsmedelsverket – special diets and adapted mealsSupplementary material
Djurens Rätt – Animal-Friendly Municipality 2025 (Djurvänlig kommun 2025)
Djurvänlig kommun is Djurens Rätt's annual ranking of Swedish municipalities, published for the seventh consecutive year in 2025. It is based on a survey of the choices municipalities have made in their own operations and purchasing, with a strong focus on the food served in schools and preschools. According to Djurens Rätt, investment in plant-based food and animal-welfare requirements in the procurement of animal products carry the greatest weight in the ranking. The survey was carried out between November 2024 and April 2025, and 78 per cent of Sweden's municipalities answered all or most of it. The maximum score was 176 points.
Results 2025
- Nykvarn municipality won the 2025 ranking with 136 of 176 possible points.
- The ten highest-placed municipalities were: 1. Nykvarn, 2. Nyköping, 3. Järfälla, 4. Nacka, 5. Kalmar, 6. Sigtuna and Uppsala (shared place), 8. Kristianstad and Säter (shared place), 10. Östersund.
- Around 70 per cent of the responding municipalities always serve vegan food to children and pupils who request it, according to Djurens Rätt's account of the results.
- 90 per cent of the municipalities serve a vegetarian dish every day in compulsory school that anyone may take without pre-ordering; around 30 per cent do so in preschool as well.
- Close to 60 per cent of the municipalities reported measures over the past year that reduced the amount of meat served and increased plant-based food; just over a third have stated goals to increase the share of plant-based food in their meal services.
Quotations from Djurens Rätt
”Förra året syntes en tydlig ökning av andelen kommuner som alltid serverar veganskt till barn och elever som efterfrågar det, troligen till följd av Kost & Närings då nya rekommendationer om att som huvudregel erbjuda vegansk mat till alla individer som önskar det.”
”Sveriges kommuner fortsätter att ligga i framkant när det gäller växtbaserat. Att fler nu tar avstånd från turbokycklingarnas oerhörda lidande är en välkommen utveckling som skickar starka signaler till kycklingindustrin om att ställa om.”
Relevance to FFVR's work
FFVR's own assessment: the survey documents how municipalities in practice organise public meals, including whether vegan food is offered to children and pupils who request it. That makes it a useful factual supplement to FFVR's mapping. The material is a survey of municipal practice, not a legal source, and Djurens Rätt's rankings say nothing about the legal conditions a municipality applies, such as whether a certificate is required.
Djurens Rätt is an independent organisation with no connection to FFVR. Djurens Rätt has not expressed any position on FFVR or on FFVR's proposal for a statutory right to vegan food, and nothing above should be read as such an endorsement.
Source hierarchy
Primary source
The municipality's own current information.
Secondary source
Djurens Rätt – Animal-Friendly Municipality 2025 (supplementary material).
National context
Swedish Food Agency guidance on special diets and adapted meals.
This is a mapping of municipalities' current information and routines and does not constitute individual legal advice. Municipal guidelines may change. Always check the linked original source.