OSLO — It has the ingredients of a Nordic crime thriller: a royal funeral, thousands of police officers in the capital, a hotel kitchen, and a chicken dish past its use-by date.
A woman in her 30s, employed at a hotel in central Oslo, has been charged with attempting to injure a public official after allegedly serving expired chicken to police officers during the massive security operation surrounding King Harald’s funeral.
Police believe the food was prepared with the intention of making the officers’ work more difficult.
“She is charged with serving expired food to police employees,” Oslo Police District told VG.
The dish, police say, included chicken that was past its expiry date. Chicken is marked with a “use by” date, and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority warns that such food can contain pathogens that cause serious illness.
Yet there is a twist: no one is known to have become ill.
The woman’s defense lawyer, Julie Conradi-Larsen, says the accusation is based on a misunderstanding.
“She does not plead guilty,” Conradi-Larsen said. “She prepared food that was completely fine. There was nothing wrong with it. She has never had any desire to harm anyone.”
The arrest came the day after the chicken meal was served. Police turned up at the woman’s home, arrested her, and placed her in a detention cell. She was released only after about a day and a half, according to her lawyer.
“No one became ill,” Conradi-Larsen emphasized.
The case has emerged amid one of the largest police operations ever carried out in Norway. Around 3,000 police officers were in Oslo for King Harald’s funeral, with many lodged at hotels across the capital.
Oslo police say the investigation is still in its early stages.
“The police are in an early phase of the investigation and, since we were notified of the incident, have conducted interviews and carried out forensic examinations,” the district said.
The woman is charged under Section 155, cf. Section 16, of Norway’s Penal Code, which covers attempted injury to a public servant. The police prosecutor leading the case was not available for comment.
For now, the central questions remain unanswered: Was it a deliberate act against Norway’s police force during a historic national event — or a hotel kitchen misunderstanding that spiraled into an arrest?
One thing is certain: no one got sick. But the case of the expired chicken has already become one of the strangest stories to emerge from an otherwise solemn week in Oslo.
