Scotland is set to have a National Food Policy that will address issues including food production, food labelling, animal slaughter and public sector food procurement.
The policy will encourage more food to be bought and eaten locally, and will help to join up thinking around many portfolios including enterprise, education, health, environment and transport.
Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Development Richard Lochhead told Holyrood: “This is a trend that’s been happening over recent years here in Scotland, a trend towards local quality food and raising Scotland’s profile as a food-producing nation. It crosses into so many different agendas.
“It goes into the health agenda, we have some of the healthiest foods in the world, yet we are unhealthy as a nation. As well as the environmental agenda, cutting down unnecessary food miles, we might not be growing bananas in Scotland so we might need to import them but there are other foods we’re importing that we’re producing on Scotland’s own doorstep, which is crazy in this day and age.
“It’s never been joined up before, and I find that so frustrating, but the timing’s right now to do it because now we’re in government and obviously, [we] have the opportunity to do it, as these trends over the last few years are coming to a head. If we had a National Food Policy for Scotland, we could tackle some of these issues.”
The national debate on the issue is kicking off today with a major event in Dundee for civil servants and stakeholders who are in some way connected with the food industry.
This is expected to be followed by a parliamentary debate and then a food summit, likely to involve celebrity chefs such as Nick Nairn and Lady Claire Macdonald. A formal policy is then set to be formulated early in 2008.
Lochhead also indicated that there was a need for more abattoirs in Scotland, rather than having to send lambs to England or Wales for slaughter, meaning unnecessary transportation and £1 million of levy lost to Scotland.
Louise Welsh of Quality Meat Scotland welcomed this proposal, although she stressed that any new abattoirs would have to be commercially viable and therefore sustainable.
She added that Quality Meat Scotland was fully behind the drive for a National Food Policy. “We’ll be contributing ideas from a red meat perspective and sharing our experiences with the broad range of people who are interested in developing a stronger Scottish food industry.”
The seafish industry also welcomed the development. Jon Harman, development director at Seafish, said his organisation was always keen to engage in a debate on food policy, given the important role of seafood as a part of a balanced diet.
“Scotland has particular challenges to meet, in terms of improving its diet across the whole country, and the health benefits of seafood, recognised by the Food Standards Agency, should be integrated into any forthcoming policy.”
The National Farmers’ Union of Scotland welcomed its involvement in creating a National Food Policy, saying that its own food campaign had gathered a good deal of public, political and industry support, and that recent local procurement pilot projects had proven to be successful and popular.
“There is scope for a National Food Policy to go much further, though, and it should encompass all aspects which underpin a sustainable food industry, including fair treatment of producers by supermarkets and clearer labelling so that consumers can see more easily where their food comes from,” said a spokesman.
On the business side, CBI Scotland said that it was supportive of many aspects of the proposed policy. “‘Joined-up thinking’ is always welcome in any sphere or area of public policy. Food production and manufacture is an important Scottish industry. It sustains a lot of jobs, many in rural communities, and has great export potential,” said assistant director Alan Mitchell.
“Effective and targeted support from the Scottish Government and the relevant public agencies to the industry will be welcome. Self-sufficiency in food production is a desirable objective, and it will also have environmental benefits by reducing the CO2 emissions associated with importing food.”
However, he stressed that the CBI did not want to see any protectionism and that Scottish manufacturers and products ultimately had to compete on their own merits. He welcomed more informed customers, but warned that if unnecessary costs or bureaucracy were imposed on businesses, it could end up pushing up prices.
SCDI spokesman Niall Stuart said it was widely agreed that the food sector’s £7.3bn annual turnover could be increased. He added that one of the key ways in which the Scottish Government can grow the sector and have a positive impact on the health of the nation is by ensuring that more public bodies procure locally produced food.
“We hope the National Food Policy will look at how this can be achieved.”
Readers have left 2 comments. 1. Joined up policy...
Libby Anderson, Unregistered Joined-up policy good, reduced food miles good, local abattoirs good, stakeholder involvement good. But I'm not sure that all stakeholders have been involved, as yet. I've already written to the Food Policy Unit to ask whether the Policy will take into account the recommendations from Cancer Research UK that we should reduce consumption of red meat in order to avoid cancer. Looking forward to the reply. Another good idea would be to involve local authority animal health and welfare officers, and resource them so that they can pro-actively enforce animal welfare legislation.
2. Government plans National Food Policy
C I, Unregistered Thank you Richard. I can empathise with how frustrating you have found it all. To have been at the heart of driving forward a national local food policy along with AH of Stirling Council, and through our initiation of 'A Review of the Local Food Sector in Scotland' in the earlier part of this decade has been more than frustrating - it's been soul destroying. In spite of this feeling of 'here we go again' I will try to remain positive, in the renewed hope that someone at last has the vision to take this forward.
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