Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 22 March 2022
Scotland began its journey to becoming a good food nation in 2014 with the publication of our national food and drink policy, which first set down the Government’s ambition to turn Scotland into a country where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in and benefit from the food that they produce, buy, cook, serve and eat each day.
From 2015 to 2017, the Scottish food commission, which was made up of 16 members, considered how to achieve that ambition. Its interim and final reports helped to set out the steps that led to the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill. I thank all those members and all the people and organisations that responded to earlier Government consultations and engagement. I particularly thank my predecessors Richard Lochhead and Fergus Ewing for guiding the work and enabling us to reach today’s milestone.
In a good food nation, everyone in Scotland has access to and the means to afford the healthy and nutritious food that they need, and diet-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes are in decline. That vision sees the people of Scotland taking a keen interest in their food, knowing what constitutes good food, valuing it and seeking it out whenever they can. The environmental impact of food consumption is managed for the benefit of everyone in Scotland. Our vision sees food producers and companies continuing to be a thriving feature of the economy and sees them as places where people want to work.
Over the past seven years, we have moved from wanting to become a good food nation to being a good food nation, through a range of activities relating to health, knowledge, the environment, the economy and social justice. Examples include supporting the roll-out of the Soil Association’s food for life programme.