Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2014
I thank the convener of the Health and Sport Committee, Duncan McNeil, and its members for their work in compiling the stage 1 report on the Food (Scotland) Bill. I am particularly pleased that the committee chose to come to Aberdeen. For the past few months, Aberdeen has been in the media spotlight. I never stopped reminding journalists that there is more than one booming sector in the north-east of Scotland.
Food and drink in Scotland is much more than an economic driver; it is part of the country’s fabric and culture, and part of our past, our present and our future. Of course, the north-east is at the very heart of it. The north-east of Scotland is the country’s natural larder.
I do not yet feel ready to speak about diet and obesity, as I have not followed the First Minister’s advice to moderate my food intake, so I will pass and let other members talk about the subject. The only comment that I will make is that, in the main, the problem that we are struggling to cope with is the quantity of food that some of us are eating. Eat less and eat better-quality food is the advice that I must follow.
Unlike Duncan McNeil, I worked in the food industry for 30 years—for many years, it was my bread and butter. I will concentrate on food safety and the implementation and enforcement of food regulations. As others have done, I make a plea to all members to support our food industry, and I remind Scottish consumers to buy locally and to eat safe and nutritious food—Scottish food.
The consensus that emerged in the stage 1 report is that the present situation has been made untenable by the direction that the Westminster Government has taken. A lot has been said about a particular food scare. I note that, in oral evidence, Uel Morton from Quality Meat Scotland stated:
“As we know from the horsemeat scandal, the substitution of beef with horsemeat in ready meals and burgers occurred further down the chain. It was not committed in the UK. It happened in Ireland, in the case of the burgers, and in France”—
to my shame—
“with a background in the Netherlands. It was a complicated international food fraud.”—[Official Report, Health and Sport Committee, 17 June 2014; c 5680.]