The Swedish company Wasabröd is the largest producer in the world of Scandinavian style crisp bread (Swedish: knäckebröd, Finnish: näkkileipä). The Wasabröd company has been in business since 1919, opening its first bakery in the city of Skellefteå. Since 1983 it has been under foreign ownership, first by the Swiss pharmaceutical corporation Sandoz (Later merged with Ciba Geigy to become Novartis), and from 1999 by the Italian food producer Barilla Alimentare S.p.A.. Scandinavian can mean: A resident of, or relating to Scandinavia A North Germanic language A music genre, Scandinavian metal This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Crisp bread (Swedish: knäckebröd or hårdbröd, Finnish: näkkileipä) is a very flat and dry Nordic type of bread, containing mostly rye flour. ... 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Bakery foods A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, cakes and similar foods. ... Skellefteå is a Municipality in Västerbotten County, in northern Sweden. ... Sandoz Laboratories was a Swiss pharmaceutical company, best known for inventing LSD in 1938 and later marketing it as a psychiatric miracle drug under the trade name Delysid. ... Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, had its origins in the merger of the CIBA-Geigy and Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. ...

The first bakery in Skellefteå, founded by Karl Edvard Lundström, was supplemented by another, completely mechanized, one in Filipstad in 1931, which has since become the main seat of the corporation. It later acquired several other Swedish bakeries. It started exporting bread in the 1940s, with the first foreign subsidiary founded in Denmark in 1965 and the first foreign bakery built in Celle in Germany in 1967. In the early 21st century Wasabröd sells about 80% of its production outside Sweden. Filipstad is a Municipality in Värmland County, in west central Sweden. ... For other uses, see Celle (disambiguation). ...

K. E. Lundström, the founder of the company, had run his own bakery in Skellefteå since 1915 (Firma K. E. Lundström), with the corporation founded in 1919, AB Skellefteå spisbrödsfabrik, taking its original name from the hometown. The Filipstad subsidiary which developed into the main part of the company took the name AB Wasa spisbrödsfabrik in 1934, which was shortened to ab Wasabröd in 1964. The brand Wasa was originally that of one particular product, Vasaknäcke, featuring an image of King Gustavus Vasa. The company has used both a royal crown and the peculiar heraldic charge, the Vase, which gave name to the Vasa dynasty, in its marketing. (Using the letter W instead of V is an archaism in Swedish; it is not uncommon in marketing, but does not affect the pronunciation.) Gustav I of Sweden, Gustav Vasa or Gustav Eriksson Vasa (1496 - 1560), became king of Sweden in 1523 and was the first monarch of the house of Vasa. ... The Vasa Coat of Arms The House of Vasa was the Royal House of Sweden (1523-1654) and of Poland (1587-1668). ...

Wasabröd produces a wide variety of crisp breads. The original crisp bread is made of rye, but their various products include sesame, wheat, and other grains. Like matzo, Wasa is noted for its shelf longevity. Binomial name Secale cereale References: ITIS 42089 2002-09-22 Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. ... Binomial name Sesamum indicum Sesame (Sesamum indicum)is a crop grown primarily for its seeds. ... Species T. boeoticum T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp) is a grass that is cultivated around the world. ... An assortment of grains The word grain has a great many meanings, most being descriptive of a small piece or particle. ... Matza (also Matzoh, Matzah, Matzo, Hebrew מַצָּה maṣṣā), an unleavened bread, is the official food of Passover. ...

The company has the status of a Purveyor to the Royal Court of Sweden.

See also

• List of Swedish companies

This is a list of Swedish companies: Companies Asea Brown Boveri (Swedish-Swiss) Alfa Laval Akzo Nobel Arla Foods (Swedish-Danish) Autoliv Assa Abloy AstraZeneca (Swedish-British) Atlas Copco Axel Johnson AB Axfood Boliden Bure Equity Civitas Holding AB (owner of Vasakronan AB) Eniro Ericsson Electrolux ESAB Gambro Getinge Hasselblad...

References

• Wasa homepage (http://www.wasa.com)