Recipe for Success: Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy.

Recipe for Success: Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy (2009) sets out the next steps of Scotland’s National Food and Drink Policy. The priorities are: support the growth of Scotland's food and drink Industry; build on Scotland's reputation as a land of food and drink; ensure availability of healthy and sustainable choices; make public sector an exemplar for sustainable food procurement; ensure food supplies are secure and resilient to change; make food both available and affordable to all; and ensure that people understand more about the food they eat.
To help eliminate hunger and food insecurity, the Policy main proposals are embedded in three key priorities: Healthier, sustainable choices, Secure and resilient food systems, Ensuring food is available and affordable to all. Under Healthier, sustainable choices the Policy promotes for instance a regular assessment of the implementation of Food and Drink Policy against the Dietary Goals (which will be reviewed and updated as required), use the latest research evidence to link environmental goals to food and nutritional goals, mapping and exploring possible actions to constrain non-broadcast marketing of high fat, sugar or salt foods to children, reformulation of pack labelling schemes, encouraging the use of the Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in the Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2008, working with Local Authorities and with Consumer Focus Scotland and supporting industry and the Food Standards Agency to develop systems for identifying, controlling and monitoring food safety risks across the supply chain through the Food Incident Prevention Strategy, among others. Under Secure and resilient food systems actions include: ensure that the right evidence and policy relating to food security on a national and global level are at used as background, maintaining the capacity and skills to produce food and supporting food production as the heart of farming and land management., build food security into the delivery of farming, fishing and aquaculture policies, support the appropriate legal framework to ensure food and drink producers, processors, retailers and consumers are treated fairly, evaluate the access to and affordability of healthy sustainable food where this impacts on Scotland’s national food security, etc. Under the priority "Ensuring food is available and affordable to all" the Policy envisages as next steps: explore the evidence around food poverty in Scotland in different income groups and areas (both urban and rural), support vulnerable groups, including those living in rural areas and the elderly living in the community, by evaluating the evidence and potential actions around access to affordable healthy food, etc.
Sustainability and production are sought indirectly through the promotion of sustainable food procurement in the public sector. For instance the Policy promotes the revision and updating of Guidance on “Integrating Sustainable Development into the Public Procurement of Food and Catering Services” to encourage the guide’s adoption across the whole of the public sector and thereby support the procurement of healthy, sustainable food. For rural poverty reduction main possible actions are focused on food poverty management. To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, proposed interventions aim to educate community and promote active participation of stakeholders into the implementation and establishment of tangible measures.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, main actions are directed to mapping and analysis of the resilience of the food supply chain in Scotland to determine what further actions are required and mprove our coverage and knowledge of the food supply chain in Scotland and our baseline capacity through research and stakeholder engagement.
To the Leadership Forum is left the task to meet and set specific, measurable and meaningful targets and ensure that all elements of the food and drink chain, including wider environmental and health interests, are involved in driving the policy forward.