Associate feature: Scottish red meat sector ready to help realise ‘Good Food Nation’ ambition

As Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), we welcome the plans for Scotland to be “a Good Food Nation, where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day”. 

Scottish Government has been clear about its objectives, and with local authorities and health boards required to produce their own Good Food Nation Plans, it should result in coherent, consistent food policy. However, achieving the Plan’s wide-ranging aims will require a broad-base of support, and in some cases, change, across many institutions, authorities and organisations.

But Scotland’s red meat sector is already working collectively under the banner of QMS to address many of the challenges set and changes required. 

Red meat plays a critical, often under-appreciated, role in delivering nutrition. In Scotland, average intakes of red meat now fall below the daily 70g limit set by government experts, with women showing notably lower consumption. Recent modelling work by Food Standards Scotland and the University of Edinburgh found that “[in Scotland] many population sub-groups are already at risk of low micronutrient intakes and these may be worsened by a reduction in meat and/or dairy intakes”. 

It is a rich and bioavailable source of key nutrients needed for optimal health. These include iron and selenium for immune function, B vitamins for energy, zinc for children’s growth and vitamin D for bone density. I was delighted to see British swimmer Adam Peaty OBE highlighting its importance in athlete success at the Paris Olympics: “I need meat to perform”. 

Indeed, the Scottish Government’s proposed plan includes the need for public bodies to have the flexibility to ‘specify requirements based on menu plans that are based on freshness [and] high nutritional value’ in their procurement structures. 

I am pleased to see that the Government recognises the importance of ‘designing menus that include Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) food’ and ‘specifying food produced according to recognised assurance schemes, e.g. Quality Meat Scotland’. This clearly demonstrates the integral role that Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork will play in becoming a Good Food Nation.

Delivering the Plan’s vision on education about food, and initiatives such as pupil farm visits is a cornerstone of QMS’s work. Through our Health and Education Team, thousands of Scottish pupils have learned about, cooked and tasted Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork . Teachers and parents have free access to our Farming Foodsteps website, seeing the journey Scottish red meat makes from farm to fork and its role as part of a healthy, balanced diet and in the economy and environment. 

Care for the environment – highlighted in the Plan’s call for a ‘flourishing natural environment’ - is one of the foundations of QMS’s five year strategy. Our ‘Planet and Place’ pillar recognises the unique role our sector has in sustainable production, environmental protection and underpinning communities, particularly in fragile rural areas. 

And of course, Quality Assured Scotch red meat  has low food miles and is traceable back to the farm, meeting call for ‘Local Food for Everyone in A Good Food Nation’. Shorter supply chains reduce emissions generated by importing products while softening the shocks from crises such as the Covid pandemic and war in Ukraine. 

Becoming a ‘Good Food Nation’ is a brilliant aspiration, bringing together policy, practice and a healthy dose of ambition for all. Scotch Beef, Scotch Lamb and Specially Selected Pork have much to offer. Scotland’s red meat supply chain, from farm onwards, is ready, willing and able to play a key role in helping public and private sectors achieve their ambitions as part of a ‘Good Food Nation’. 
 

This article is sponsored by Quality Meat Scotland

qmscotland.co.uk