Scotland's Food & Drink Industry

Whether you’re vegetarian or carnivore, enjoy fast food or healthy food, everyone deserves to know what’s in their food and where it comes from. The food and drink industry holds a responsibility to consumers to make them aware of this and also to highlight the effects of over and under eating. So I’ve decided to explore the Corporate Social Responsibility of Scotland’s food industry.

Corporate Social Responsibility of the Food Industry

Scotland’s food and drink industry plays a vital role in Scotland’s economy. Currently with an annual turnover of £14 billion, the goal is to grow the industry to a value of £16.5 billion by 2017 through exploiting the quality, provenance and sustainability of Scottish produce.

The food and drink industry has a responsibility to consumers to provide ethical and sustainable products. A survey by DEFRA in 2010 showed that it’s important to 65% of people that a product has been ethically produced, 70% said it’s important to them that their fish comes from a sustainable source, 68% believed it important for a product to be produced with respect to the environment, and 76% said it was important that their meat and eggs have been produced to high animal welfare standards.

As you can see, the majority of the population deem ethically sourced and sustainable food of great importance to them, so now I’m going to look at the buying choices consumers have in order to honour this preference.

Ethical
The motivation behind buying ethical products is down to people not agreeing with the abuse of animals, how the workers are exploited, or the damage that’s being done to the environment.

Free range is a term that can be applied to meat, eggs, and dairy farming, and is applicable when the animals are allowed to roam freely outdoors for a portion of the day. Contrast to free range farming you have the horrendous battery cages, this is where animals are kept in cages 24hrs a day while they provide whatever product they’re there for. Charities such as RSPCA and Animal Aid have been campaigning against this animal abuse for years, but it’s only been in the past 2 years that sales of free range eggs have outsold caged eggs.

As fast food choices such as sandwiches, coffees and yoghurts etc are an extremely popular way of eating these days, using eco-friendly packaging is vital. An example of a brand that is aware of this and markets themselves as an environmentally friendly brand is ‘Pret A Manger’.
Commenting on its packaging, Pret says: ‘…in 2012 we finally got rid of the plastic bag altogether, replacing them with paper bags from sustainably managed sources... We’re committed to using packaging that is as sustainable as possible. All our packaging must be made from accredited sustainable sources or recycled material, and must also be fully recyclable.’

The Fairtrade organisation supports small farms and plantations in countries where standard working conditions aren’t always present. When buying a product with the Fairtrade mark on it – bananas, chocolate, tea etc – you are guaranteed that the work and ingredients gone into making it meets agreed Fairtrade social, economic and environmental standards.

Sustainability
Organisations such as The Soil Association and Marine Stewardship Council campaign for sustainable farming and fishing throughout the UK. They want to set standards and provide solutions so that people can eat, farm and fish with the resources that are available.

The Soil Association is responsible for certifying over 70% of all organic produce sold in the UK, so when you see its mark you are guaranteed that the produce meets the highest standard of sustainability and quality.

When you see the Marine Stewardship Councils mark on seafood products it’s a guarantee that the produce being sold has come from a sustainable fishery.

Stay informed about produce that’s in short supply and alter your buying habits accordingly, also make yourself familiar with any local producers and purchase their produce where possible – both things will help manage the sustainability of our resources.

So are you in the majority that believes sustainable fishing and farming is important? That it’s important for products to be produced with respect to the environment? That meat and eggs come from animals that have had a high quality of life?