Lochhead welcomes first forum of food and drink champions

Membership of the new Food and Drink Leadership Forum has been revealed this week.

The Forum will include food champions for the following themes: the economy, health, environment and access and affordability.

Speaking from yesterday's first meeting of the Food and Drink Leadership Forum, set up to take forward Scotland's first national food and drink policy, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead said:

"Today's leadership forum marks an important step in the development of the first national food and drink policy for Scotland. This first meeting brings together a high-profile group of experts in their field to keep the momentum which has built up around food and drink going.

"There is a genuine enthusiasm to change the way we eat, buy, produce and sell food and drink. We now have a real opportunity to make these significant changes for the better, and I am confident that this forum of food champions is best placed to take this work forward.  

"There is already a significant amount of work ongoing across Government and this forum will help ensure we continue to pull this all together in a coherent way. I look forward to seeing the results from this forum in the coming months, which will help us to deliver a policy which achieves the freshest, finest future for Scottish food and drink."

Food champions include Ken Mackenzie, chair of the Scottish Retail Consortium, Professor Phil Hanlon, Professor of public health, University of Glasgow – Champion for health, and Professor Jan Bebbington, sustainable development commission – champion for the environment.

Other members include Jim Mather, minister for enterprise, energy and tourism, Shona Robison, minister for public health, and Allan Burns, chair of Scotland Food and Drink.

Words: Maria Bracken

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