Scottish Government

2. COMMON AND CORE ISSUES

Any food policy will involve both direct actions and those which will be achieved through action in relation to other policy areas such as health or Global Climate Change or the Development of Novel Technologies.

The overall objectives of the National Food Policy require the clarification of some basic aims and the definition of some key terms. For example it is not possible to discuss security, affordability or accessibility of food and drink without being clear as to what elements of food and drink need to be made accessible and affordable with a secured supply. Issues of this type are common to the three stands of policy considered here and so we discuss them as core issues which we see as being common to all of the elements of this study.

2.1 Food Sovereignty

Food in Context While government intervention in agriculture, trade and trading standards, health, and economic development is well-established, the domain of food (which intersects with all these) has not been identified as a locus for policy-making or strategic intervention.

Housing provides an interesting analogy. A 'mixed market' operates, with private, local authority and housing association provision. Building regulations have ratcheted up the requirements for energy-efficiency, because the market alone fails to ensure this. Behind this, local government has a duty to prevent homelessness and to re-house people who become homeless.

By contrast, food policy has been implicit, with the expectation that the market will ensure access to good enough food for all. As a result most current food legislation is narrowly focused on issues of food safety and trading standards.

There is no explicit food policy framework to guide or regulate the food market, or to take into account the wider impacts of our globalized system of food production, processing and distribution. The changed circumstances in which we now find our selves require a new way of thinking about food in Scotland. We suggest that the concept of food sovereignty provides a useful starting-point.

Food Sovereignty as an approach to Policy. Food sovereignty has been widely discussed in the context of developing countries where malnutrition is widespread and where food represents a large element in household budgets. However, it has universal application, recognizes that we have many in our society who are malnourished and for whom food makes up a major part of their budgets and that this proportion may grow as a result of the current economic down turn. In addition its realization requires global co-operation.

The key elements of food sovereignty can be summarised as:

• Production: Scotland's agriculture, fisheries, nutrition, environment and rural development policies would give priority to the provision of good, healthy food to its population, sourced as locally and seasonally as possible, with high welfare standards;
• Nutrition Policy: In Scotland the diet of all social groups and ages should continue to be monitored, in order to make certain that policies are in place to help ensure universal access to a healthy balanced diet. It recognises the right to food and the duty of governments to secure this right with and for their citizens without compromising this right in other countries nor the integrity of other nations' food systems;
• Supply Management: Scotland would stimulate local production and consumption particularly of fruit and vegetables and limit imports of subsidised foods and feeds that would depress local market prices;
• Fair Trade: Scotland would embrace fair trade, in relation to both the production and processing of foods and to the social and environmental consequences (through changes in land use, displacement of local food production, and appropriation of water resources) of trade in food. In its trading relations with other countries, Scotland would also not 'dump' any food commodities in other countries' markets at prices below the costs of production in either Scotland or the recipient country;
• Environment: Production systems would become more environmentally sustainable with increased use of systems that conserve and protect water, soils and biodiversity, impose strict limits on environmental pollution and contamination of foods, feeds and the environment. Scotland would seek to lift intellectual property restrictions that limit the sustainable use of locally conserved genetic resources (seeds, livestock breeds, and fish stocks) necessary to sustain healthy, local production;
• Refocus research and extension: Scottish research and knowledge transfer would prioritise support for sustainable local food production that enhances nutrition and sustains the environment.

The role of Food Sovereignty. In the context of food security and affordability the primary focus of food sovereignty relates to the secure access by all too sufficient, safe, healthy, sustainable and culturally appropriate food. The production of commodities for global trade is vitally important, and in other contexts a primary aim, but in this context it's role is limited to the generation of income to help secure necessary food imports. In addition food sovereignty values the contribution and respects the rights of all, including small farmers, growers and those involved with fishing and of the workers who process food. The importance of small producers was highlighted by Evans (2009) as a key element in a future Global food strategy.

The concept shapes elements of policy on food access, affordability and security. It recognizes the importance of local decision making. One possible implication would be a more joined-up approach at a 'food region' level (there might be 5-10 such regions in Scotland), with local food agencies taking a more integrated approach to the whole food system (health, carbon reduction, local economic multiplier, biodiversity, employment, social capital, tourism, culture etc). Such a coherent local approach would lead to a range of different initiatives dependent on the region's geography and demography. For example, some regions might introduce universal or targeted food credits which could be exchanged for local unprocessed food. Others might promote periurban production of fruit and vegetables, sponsor not for profit 'green' distribution companies, or support up scaling of food co-operatives.

At a national level, the policy would base national food requirements on a 'one planet' diet and develop a basis for determining what proportion of that diet should be grown and processed in Scotland. On a broader scale, a policy of food sovereignty would inform Scotland's relationship with developing countries, creating a series of shared goals.

Recommendations

2. The primary aim of Food Sovereignty would be to secure universal access too sufficient safe, healthy and sustainable food. This policy would require an increased emphasis on the challenges of regional food production and the development of skills. We recommend a need to reconsider the current thrust of agriculture and food policy in Scotland and to recast them on this basis.

3. Local authorities, with their planning partners, are well placed to implement many recommendations within this work stream given their knowledge of local circumstances and engagement with the people most likely to face difficulties with access and affordability. We recommend the importance of their increased engagement with these issues.

4. We recommend the advantages of the community planning process and single outcome agreement frameworks having food as an explicit element within them and for suitable indicators being developed through negotiations between central and local government.

2.2 Climate Change

The contribution of Agriculture to Climate Change. Climate change is one of the most important areas for the development of both national and global policy at the current time and it seems likely to remain so for some considerable time to come. Agriculture has an inevitable impact in relation to both the production of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change and in relation to the alleviation of the effects of climate change. Agriculture and Food production are together responsible for the generation of around 20% of greenhouse gases ( GHGs). UK Agriculture its self is responsible for almost 10% of emissions both in terms of emissions generated within our borders and of UK consumption related emissions (Garnett, 2008). ⁶

The situation in Scotland, as a consequence of the greater proportion of our land being devoted to agriculture, seems likely to be proportionally higher with agriculture and food responsible for perhaps as much as 30% of green house gas generation (Raven, 2008). ⁷

The major GHG's produced by agriculture are Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N2O). All forms of agriculture produce CO2 while CH4 is primarily a product of livestock production and N2O a consequence of the use of nitrogen fertilisers in arable agriculture. Both CH4 and N2O are more damaging than CO2 which is why the GHG impact of agriculture is so high.

The need for care in land management. There has been a pattern of rising temperatures since the 1960s. The largest increases have been in the winter and spring. Future increases are expected to be greatest in summer and autumn. The length of the growing season is projected to increase by between 20 and 60 days by 2080 with the greatest increases in the east. Climate change will also influence patterns of precipitation with the expectation of wetter winters and drier summers ⁸. Given the major climatic limitations on agricultural production in Scotland this may not all be bad news. However it is important that any changes in agricultural activity do not result in an increased release of GHG's. Soils are natural stores of carbon; especially the high carbon soils which characterise much of our highlands and islands. Scotland's organic soils contain around 2,000 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and is of an order of magnitude greater than that contained in our vegetation. It is thus important that future changes to agriculture should not increase the loss of stored carbon. ⁹

All of this is important both because it indicates the importance of agriculture and the extent of necessary changes. While we might reduce our domestic GHG generation by reducing domestic agriculture but unless we make significant changes to our patterns of food consumption such an approach might only move the source of the problem and could even result in us increasing the amounts of green house gas emissions which are a direct result of our consumption because of the GHGs embedded in the food we import. Response to climate change must both cover responses in Scotland and responses linked to how we trade with others (Church of Scotland 2007) ¹⁰

Changing what and how food is produced, regardless of where it is produced, is vital to our response to climate change. A recent UK Government study concluded, "it is clear that current patterns of food production are incompatible with a low carbon and more resource constrained future". ¹¹ All of these concerns ask questions about our self-sufficiency in food production. Reliable figures are not available for Scotland but for the UK as a whole, production relative to consumption has fallen from 68 to 61% in the last decade for all foods and from 82- 74% for indigenous foods (Soil Association 2008). ¹² This issue and its implications are discussed elsewhere in this report (particularly in sections 3.2-3.4).

Impacts within agriculture. Different types of agriculture have different impacts both in extent and in type of impact. Arable agriculture impacts directly predominantly as a result of the nitrous oxide release which is a result of the use of nitrogen fertilizers. Meat and Dairy products impact through the release of methane from ruminant animals and their wastes and account for around half of the total direct impact of agriculture. The importance of livestock production to Scottish Agriculture makes this a major issue for both our attempts to reduce GHGs production and our economy. It is a complex situation. Simplistic approaches, such as suggestions of reducing the numbers of ruminant stock to reduce methane release, ignore the complexity of the situation and the role livestock enterprises in conserving soil carbon reserves and sustaining rural communities.

There are of course a number of significant indirect impacts in agriculture. Nitrogen fertilizers and many pesticides require substantial quantities of energy in their manufacture which result in the generation of CO2. Fertilizers and pesticides are used in all forms of agriculture. Together fertilizer and pesticide production account for over a third of the total energy used in agriculture. The production of ammonia which is the initial step in the production of nitrogen fertilizers requires 33.5 GJ/ ton and releases around 1.8 tons of CO2 if produced from natural gas or around 3 tons if produced using coal. To put this in context the lower of these is a similar CO2 release to that of a modern generation car travelling over 12,000 km. Ammonia generation for fertilizers needs about 4% of total world fossil fuel use. Machinery movement also uses fossil fuels and releases CO2.

Options for Change in Agriculture. There are thus a number of potential avenues open to reduce the GHG profile of agriculture and it is important that all of these should be explored. Novel technologies will be important but it is also important for us to assess whether current practices might be reorganised so as to reduce the generation of GHG's and reduce the need for the use of fossil fuels.

Scotland has a long tradition of mixed farming. A study carried out for Defra in 2004 showed the extent of possible savings (Table 2) which might be achieved through a better gearing of arable production to the production of poultry and pigs which commonly occur in a housed environment and so are more independent of geography than would be the case for non housed stock. ¹³ These represent a significant fraction of the estimated 881 kha of cereals in the UK while the Scottish part of this might meet the needs of 10-15% of our cereal production.

Table 2 The potential contribution of waste products from housed animal production to meeting the needs of UK cereal production.

In relation to the potential impact of new technologies it is perhaps helpful to note that aiming to reduce the need for nitrogen fertilisers by developing crops which can fix their own nitrogen; long a major stated aim of crop genetic modification, seems unlikely to be the most profitable approach to this problem. ¹⁴Leguminous crops use up to 40% of their total photosynthetic energy capture in the reduction of elemental nitrogen and to make the structural modifications needed to allow then to do so. This has major impacts on potential yields. This is probably why the ability to fix nitrogen has not, in evolutionary terms, been a recipe for dominant success and why legumes are rarely a major element in natural vegetation. The ability to be efficient in the capture of the nitrogen released by soil microbial action has however been important to evolutionary success and must continue to be a key approach both through genetic modification and the construction of less leaky farming systems. Exploiting this is the basis of reduced input agricultural systems of which Organic and LEAF production systems are examples which are currently being used in Scotland. There are therefore current and potential future technological options for reducing GHG generation which need to be explored. Ultimately, however, these seem unlikely to be able to generate enough of a reduction to meet current targets, 80% by 2050. It is clear that, in addition to changes to agricultural practices, that change in food consumption and in behaviour related to food will be needed.

The Urgency for Action. Climate change is with us now. Regional temperatures have increased over the past 40years most commonly as a result of increases in minimum rather than maximum temperatures. Climate change has contributed to current food supply problems although not in a major way. Its impact will increase with time and seem likely to be negative in regions which are water limited, which includes regions from whom we currently access some of our food but may be positive in regions where production is temperature limited such as Scotland.

Effects on crop production alone are unlikely to be the only or even the most important aspects of climate change. There are a wide range of adaptation options which may be available particularly if planning is commenced at an early point in time (Gregory and Ingram, 2008) ¹⁵. Climate change legislation will potentially change the pattern of our agriculture and our food consumption. In addition it seems likely that Climate Change and the global cost of energy will have particularly important effects on our remote rural communities over coming years and so there is a clear need to better understand the relative contributions of geography and economics in relation to access to quality food. It is clear that were food production to be organised so as to reduce current needs for external sources of energy and to explicitly conserve carbon within the production system that it can make a significant contribution to the delivery of several current climate change targets.

Much of current food production is tied, as discussed above, to the use of nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides. Nitrogen supply represents one of the most common limitations to maximum crop yields. Pesticide applications allowed the use of higher rates of nitrogen without the consequence of increased losses from pests, weeds and diseases. Current methods of arable production are however not the only options available. ¹⁶ Current levels of production using such methods are a consequence of the investment in research to provide the appropriate chemicals and to integrate optimum use of soil resources with crop varieties bred to require resources of this type. While alternative systems of production currently result in lower levels of production they also generate fewer externalities. Potentially they have the potential for a smaller carbon footprint. There is thus significant potential to increase the productivity of systems which are not centred on the use of fossil fuel based energy demanding inputs. These may however be challenged to maintain current levels of yield. This seems likely because most alternative systems include the need to co-exist with other elements of vegetation and with animals such as insects so as to maintain bird populations. Failure to do this comprises significant direct and indirect externalities in current production systems. There are however significant new approaches to be followed. An increased emphasis on the use of soil micro-organisms has the potential to both increase the availability of soil nutrients and to improve crop capture of soil nutrients. (Atkinson 2009) ¹⁷ For example mycorrhizal fungi have recently been shown to have an impact on crop water use through the provision of information to the crop rather than through a contribution to resource capture which has long been seen as the role of soil organisms. ¹⁸

Impact on the Geography of Production. Climate change will significantly influence what food may be produced and where. Current information on the probable impact of Climate change suggests that in the future Scotland may be producing a wider range of crops than is currently possible although this may be limited by an increased need for water and issues related to the use of nitrogen. This is discussed further in sections 3.2 and 5.4 There are also issues related to what might be the optimum role for Scottish production potential within an EU approach to climate change.

Climate Change impact on other Parts of the Food Chain. Climate change is also a significant consequence of un-fair trade which too often drives environmental damage. Scotland has traditionally been supportive of Fair trade. Most major cities and towns in Scotland are Fairtrade cities or towns. It is clear that a food policy, which includes food security, has to be compatible with Climate Change Policy. Detailed issues in relation to the implications of climate change are discussed later in the Report (sections 3.3-3.4).

While climate change has the potential to have significant impact on primary production it is likely also to impact on other parts of the food chain. Food processing, distribution, catering and retailing are responsible for ¹⁹around 10% of total UKGHG production. They have there for a relatively similar contribution to primary production.

Food transport alone in the UK accounted for around 3.5% of GHG release. The relative contribution of transport varies between food commodities being relatively small for animal products and much higher for fruit and vegetables. Road transport is a significant element in the sources of GHG's. This is important to Scotland because of the significant distances over which food may need to be moved so as to reach our remote rural communities. While transport by air represents only 1% of the carriage of food it remains responsible for 11% of the generation of GHG's by the transport sector including that due to customer travel to food shops. ²⁰ Climate change will impact on how we buy our food. Meeting climate change targets will require a reduction in car use and so may increase the drive to internet based shopping. (Section 5.5)

The refrigeration of food is responsible for the generation of around 3.0 -3.5% of UKGHG's with the domestic and commercial sectors being the cause of two thirds of this total. Refrigeration thus accounts for around 15% of the food total contribution. The retail and catering sectors are responsible for the generation of GHG's both directly in relation to their refrigeration and heating and lighting needs and indirectly through their role in encouraging travel to shop. It has been suggested that supermarkets per square metre are more energy intensive than other food shops although this intensity will be mitigated by considerations related to the intensity of food turnover. The trend to 24hr opening has increased energy use for refrigeration. ²¹

Food wastes also make a significant contribution to GHG's. Around 18-20 million tonnes of food is wasted each year in the UK. Household food waste alone accounts for around 7million tonnes. Wasted food represents a waste of all the embedded emissions involved in production and allows an estimate of around 18million tonnes of CO2 from the household sector which represents 2% of total UK emissions. ²²

The current economic downturn combined with the higher cost of raw materials; higher energy/fuel costs, and higher production costs have resulted in a squeeze on food processors margins. This in its self may impact on the ability of this sector to respond positively to the need to change just how they do business. In considering the impact of food on GHG generation it matters that we do not focus exclusively on the agriculture sector but that we consider the potential contribution of the whole chain.

Recommendation

5) The current climate change targets mean that the agriculture of 2050 will be as different to current agriculture as current practice is to agriculture of the 1950's. We recommend the importance of using the current projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in a Scottish context to both reduce GHG emissions and to guide the research needed to take advantage of any positive implications for Scotland's agriculture.

2.3 Recent Trends in Food Prices

Global Prices of agricultural commodities rose sharply in 2006 and 2007 and continued to rise even more sharply into 2008 before falling from their peaks in recent months. Similar trends have been observed in the meat and dairy markets, as well as for food in general. While the FAO food price index ²³, which is an aggregate measure of price movements of cereals, dairy, meat, oils and fats and sugar, rose on average 8 percent in 2006 compared with the year before, it increased by 24 percent in 2007 compared to 2006. According to the index, commodity prices reached their peak in June 2008 and have been falling steadily since then.

Recent large increases in commodity prices point to increased volatility and uncertainty in the current market environment.

Figure 1 shows how commodity prices evolved since January 2005.

Figure 1

Source: FAO, 2008

Although the trends show a fast and consistent decline in global commodity prices in the last few months, the world food challenges have not disappeared and this trend may have been driven by slowing demand rather than recovering global stocks of commodities.

UK Figure 2 below shows the trend in the price inflation for the period of January 2007 and January 2009. According to Consumer Price Index, the food price inflation rate has stayed above the inflation rate for all items but the gap between the two rates has widened significantly since July 2007. In August 2008, the annual rate of CPI inflation for food peaked at 13%, over 7% higher than the rate for all items. Since August 2008, the annual rate of food price inflation has been on a downward trend but despite that, the difference between the two rates stayed at around 7% - a much wider gap compared to the start of the series.

Figure 2 Annual percentage change in Consumer Price Index on Food and All Items

Source: Consumer Price Indices, Office of National Statistics

Scotland Figure 2 above provides an indication of the movement in prices across the whole of the UK. Whilst there is no official measure of price inflation in Scotland, a study by the Scottish Agricultural College ²⁴ used data on Scotland-specific expenditure (from Expenditure and Food Survey, 2006) to derive a CPI type measure for Scotland. The findings show that overall inflation (all items) in Scotland has been consistently slightly below that of the UK (an average of 0.23 percentage points below the UK figure between July 2005 and July 2008), because of the difference in spending patterns.

There was a high rate of inflation in 'food and non-alcoholic drinks' in the summer of 2008 with the July figure in Scotland reaching 12.8 per cent, whereas the corresponding 'all items' inflation was 4.7 per cent. Again, the inflation pattern followed by 'food and non-alcoholic drinks' in Scotland closely resembles that of the UK. This is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Scotland: CPI Inflation - All items versus food and non-alcoholic drinks

Source: SAC

However, even within Scotland, different groups have experienced different rates of inflation. The expenditure structure of the 1st decile income group (the poorest) shows that the key components of the 1st (poorest) decile's expenditure are 'food and non-alcoholic drinks' (17.9 per cent, compared to 9.4 per cent for the 10th decile, the richest group) and 'housing, fuel and power' (19.6 per cent, compared to 8.1 per cent for the 10th decile). ²⁵

Thus, the 1st decile is particularly hard hit by 'food' and 'housing, fuel and power' inflation and the 'all items' inflation rate for the 1st decile income group was above the overall Scottish inflation for most of the period under analysis. However, whilst during the period of July 2005 to July 2007, the difference was mainly due to housing, fuel and power costs, the divergence in the last few months is attributed to mainly to food.

Figure 4: Scotland - CPI Inflation: 1st (poorest) versus 10th (richest) deciles

Figure 5 shows how real income growth may have differed across the ten deciles in Scotland assuming that income growth has been in line with average income growth in previous years with two different average growth rates considered. Adjusted for the rate of Scotland-specific CPI inflation, the real income growth rates show that the poorest decile experiences the lowest increase in income and this may have even been negative.

Figure 5 Real Income Growth in Scotland by decile 2007/2008

Source: SAC

Given that the above analysis is based on the UK, rather than Scottish prices, the same research study also looked into the differences between those. In particular, it looked at how increases in food prices affected consumer purchasing power in Scotland by using a multiple retailer database to extract data on the evolution of weekly purchases by representative supermarket shoppers for the last two years. Table 3 compares the cumulative price inflation for Scotland and its regions with the UK prices from the same datasource for the period of October 2006 to September 2008.

For most products (with the exception of white fish and apples), price increases in Scotland have been similar to those in the UK. Whilst this could be due to the choice of products (as there are differences in products across the UK), prices in all Scottish regions show similar trends to the Scottish average which reinforces the findings.

Milk, salmon and beef are the only products prices of which showed higher growth in Scotland than in the UK For all other products, prices show lower cumulative growth with the difference most prominent for white bread, fresh eggs and new potatoes.

Whilst the product selection is too small to draw conclusions on how Scotland's food prices compare to UK prices, the findings nevertheless confirm that the similarity in how these have evolved.

Table 3 Cumulative Inflation by Product and Scottish Region, 9-Oct-2006 to 22-Sep-2008 (Percentages)

Notes:
".." not enough purchases to establish a price
Source: Scottish Agricultural College, 2008

Recommendation

6) Scottish government should recognise the disproportionate impact of price rises in foods on the poorest in society. We recommend the importance of appropriate provision to protect such groups in times of rapid price rises such as those seen in 2008.

2.4 Food Quality, Diet and the Health of Scotland

What is Food Quality? Food quality incorporates a wider range of issues than those which are normally considered in discussions of diet and health. Some of these were identified by an earlier report from the Church of Scotland. ²⁶ The types of food consumed influence interactions in families. The presentation of food impacts on what is consumed and whether this is part of a shared or a solo activity. Quality thus impacts on what becomes food waste which can represent as much as one third of the total amount of food purchased. ²⁷ The functioning of community bodies in the supply of food have major impact on social interactions in just the same way as Post Offices have been seen to have a significant role as a community meeting place. In addition the role of all of the chemical, biochemical and genetic components of food is currently unknown but increasing. For example an appreciation of the important role of components such as phenolic compounds in fruits is very recent. Such issues are at the heart of debates between the organic farming and conventional producers over what ought to define food quality. It is important therefore to recognise this as an evolving area.

Diet and Health. Food quality thus incorporates a wider range of issues than those which simply relate to diet and health. Many of these wider issues are detailed elsewhere in this report. Issues which relate food quality to communities and families are detailed in section 2.5 while those linked to how food is produced and the full costs associated with its being traded are covered in sections 3.3 and 3.5 respectively. There are however a number of important aspects related to interactions with diet and health and these are discussed here.

Scotland has a longstanding recognition of the need to tackle poor diet and obesity which led to the publication of the Scottish Diet Action Plan in 1996 ²⁸. The action plan contained a set of Scottish Dietary Targets which comprise population level nutrient and food based targets, initially set for achievement in 2005 and now extended to 2010 (Table 4). Overweight and poor diet continues to contribute to high rates of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer. Large socio-economic inequalities exist in relation to the prevalence of chronic disease in Scotland ²⁹ and this may be exacerbated by differences in food intake ⁵.

The Scottish Government has recently published an action plan (Healthy Eating, Active Living, 2008) to tackle issues of poor diet and physical inactivity which may result in overweight and obesity ³⁰. This action plan aims to build on current Scottish objectives that include targeted actions towards those at greatest risk of inequalities, and increasing access to healthier food choices particularly for those on low incomes. Key life stages have also been identified in which to act and this includes addressing inequalities in the early years through the appointment of an Infant Nutrition Co-ordinator for Scotland and the development of the Healthy Start scheme. There is also a commitment to identifying and addressing the nutritional needs of older people in the community.

The 2008 Scottish Government National Food Policy discussion document 'Choosing the Right Ingredients' ³¹ has carried forward themes highlighted in the Review of the Scottish Diet Action Plan ⁵ about closer integration between the policy goals of improving Scotland's diet-related ill-health and those of social justice and sustainable development.

A review of progress towards the Scottish Dietary Targets indicated that there has been little change in overall diet since 1996 ³². Whilst some improvement has been made towards reducing total fat, there has been no change in the intake of saturated fat, fruit and vegetables, bread, oil-rich fish and breakfast cereals. The data also indicated an increase in the consumption of added sugars.

Diet and Inequalities: Whilst there are few differences in intakes of nutrients contributing to total energy intake, such as fat and sugar, there are marked differences in the types of foods consumed between affluent and deprived areas. Deprived households consume significantly less fruit and vegetables, brown/wholemeal bread, breakfast cereals (all types and wholegrain/high fibre) than those in affluent households. Similar trends were found in a recent UK survey of low income groups ³³. Such differences in food consumption may contribute to lower intakes of omega-3 fats, fibre, vitamins and minerals in deprived as compared to more affluent households. ³⁴

The Scottish Government's report Equally Well (2008) ³⁵ highlighted the importance of social justice and tackling health inequalities. It noted the usefulness of statutory and regulatory approaches (e.g. farming and trade policies, food labelling regulations, addition of vitamins to margarine and folate to flour) to improve the whole population's diet and health and ensuring people most at risk of poor health outcomes are included.

Diets in remote rural localities: To date, there is no evidence that people living in remote rural localities have poorer diets. Indeed there is some evidence to suggest that fruit and vegetable intake may be higher in the remote rural localities in Scotland along with increased intakes of brown/wholemeal bread, breakfast cereals (all types and wholegrain/high fibre), and oil-rich fish, ³⁶. FSAS-funded work is currently underway to further explore potential differences between urban and rural dietary intakes.

Diets of children in Scotland in relation to deprivation: The Scottish Dietary Targets specified that children limit consumption of sugars to no more than 10% of daily energy intake and in 2005, FSAS commissioned a survey to measure intake of added sugars among Scottish children ³⁷. The data revealed that added sugar intakes were considerably higher than recommended. Whilst total sugar intake did not differ by area, the results showed that children living in the more deprived areas consumed significantly more added sugars. Treatment for dental decay was associated with deprivation, with the most deprived children twice as likely to have had treatment for decay. Added sugar intake was significantly higher in children who had received treatment for dental decay. Not surprisingly the main contributors to added sugar intakes were sugary soft drinks, biscuits, cakes, pastries and confectionery.

Data from both the Scottish Health Survey ³⁸ and the Survey of Sugar Intake among Children in Scotland show that children in the most deprived areas more frequently consumed foods high in fat, salt and/or sugar. Fruit and vegetable consumption also varied by socio-economic group, with those in highest income quintile eating more than those living in the deprived areas.

Obesity: Data from the 2003 Scottish Health Survey ³⁸ show no clear correlation between deprivation and obesity across the population. Whilst there is a pattern of increasing levels of obesity with increasing deprivation amongst adult women, (from 20.7% obesity in the least deprived areas to 31.8% obesity in the most deprived), overall, there is no clear evidence linking patterns of obesity with inequalities.

Table 4: Scottish Dietary Targets

(The Scottish Office Department of Health 1996)

Recommendations

7) Improvements in the health of Scottish consumers are everyone's business. Health is too important an issue to be considered a low-priority driver or something that is marketable only, as designer health foods, to the 'worried well.' Health outcomes extend beyond 'niche' health product marketed in a few square feet of a shop or as healthy choice on a foodservice menu. We recommend that health and social justice be given increased status as policy drivers to ensure that they are integral rather than incidental.

8) As some less healthy features of Scotland's diet are deeply rooted in our culture we suggest the need for different and more positive messages to be sent. These should stress the advantages of a changed diet: better quality of life, longer good health, less strain on healthcare services and improved mental wellbeing.

9) There are marked differences in the types of foods consumed between affluent and deprived areas. Children living in deprived areas are particularly at risk of poor diet. We recommend the need for new approaches to be taken to finding ways of encouraging and supporting healthy eating particularly for low income individuals and families.

10) The Scottish Government and NHS Health Scotland, working in partnership need to consider how nutritional advice, translated into inequality terms, might be formulated to provide practical guidance so as to help targeted consumers meet dietary goals such as the increased consumption of fruit, vegetables and fish and the reduction of saturated fats.

11) Efforts are required to dramatically and quickly increase the sales and distribution of fruit and vegetables. Scotland should set and vigorously market rising targets to reinforce the step-change that is needed.

12) As part of their total offer supermarkets are increasing their ranges of 'saver' and 'economy' lines of processed foods to attract those on a tight budget. Providing food for those whose food budget is limited is important. It is also important to ensure that economy processed foods do not contain higher levels of saturated fat, salt or sugar. We recommend the need for a process to keep the nutritional status of economy lines under review.

13) We recommend the need for more research and development to ensure that Scotland is at the forefront of emerging markets demanding safe, healthy, sustainable, locally sourced food of high quality, which is also convenient to buy, cook and serve.

14) Companies and agencies working throughout the food supply chain need to work together to help break the cultural reinforcement of poor diet. We recommend the importance of partnership with the retail sector as the basis of future research needs.

15) It is clear that there remain some in our society who are touched or engaged by few initiatives, e.g. the homeless, and so we recommend the need for research to find out what initiatives and methods of engagement would help specific vulnerable groups get better access to healthy food.

2.5 The Importance of Food Quality in Relation to Communities and Society

Food Quality: wider Issues. Our definition of food quality is a key issue in respect of all of affordability, access and security. While it is possible to see food quality only in respect of bulk chemical composition e.g. the content of protein, fats and carbohydrates or microbiological/chemical safety we think that this would be inadequate. To do so would be to ignore the social and structural impact that food has always had and which is attested to by the emphasis that it is given in Christian Jewish and Muslim scriptural texts. If, however, we consider food quality in environmental and social contexts then definitions become broad. Never the less it is important to ask whether food can be considered as being of high quality if its production has involved significant damage to the environment or if it has minimised opportunities for social enhancement or family cohesion.

We can ask if food can be considered as a quality product if it fails to exercise its traditional role as a significant element in the glue which holds together family units and societies. The breadth of such questions suggests that there would be value in establishing food quality as a public good and as one of the national values through which we characterise our society. These questions are addressed here as part of our consideration of the importance of a minimal environmental impact (section 2.2) as an element of food security (Section 3.3) and as part of the relationship between food and the cohesiveness of communities and family units (section 4.2).

A community may be both a geographical and a social entity or a combination of both. Geographically it has impact on access to food particularly in rural situations. Socially it influences what are considered to be the important elements of an acceptable diet particularly in inner city areas. Issues such as these ask whether we have the mechanisms to deliver food, information or education to local communities. Do the mechanisms exist to permit local decision making in an area such as this? How could we get community buy in to any suggestions in relation to local production or processing? Should the focus of current debate explicitly relate to current health issues such as obesity and diabetes or are there more fundamental issues of which these are merely the current indicators of a significant disfunctionality? These questions frame the short and long term dimensions to these issues.

Consideration of the role of communities raises the issue of the importance of personal and community food production and questions related to community provision for such production. Personal production of food is unlikely to be able to provide a large proportion of the food required to feed Scotland.

Nevertheless it is vital in relation to the change process. It promotes a widened base of thinking about food related issues and so it is important to education about the components of food security and what is involved in the production of food. It re-establishes a critical link between citizens and the land. As a result it seems important for towns and cities across Scotland to incorporate food production through provision of allotments and community plots and the facilitation of garden sharing schemes as part of their planning in relation to both food sovereignty and climate change. In addition because the principle foods which are home produced in this way are fruit and vegetables this has shown it's self to be a key means of promoting the consumption of these foods which are currently under represented in the diet.

Yield of individual vegetable species vary greatly from garden to garden. Using figures for normal commercial production ³⁹ an allotment with an area of 20x10 m divided so as to use 75% of the area for vegetables and the remainder for fruit could there for produce around 450 kg of vegetables and 40kg of fruit per year. If 1% of our estimated 1.58 million households ⁴⁰ were to produce in this way this would deliver around 8,000 tonnes of vegetables and 650 tonnes of fruit per year which although small relative to our total need (Table 8) is never the less a valuable contribution to our increased need so as to meet dietary targets.

It also encourages exercise and so the meeting of the exercise targets identified in the Healthy Eating Active Living Plan. ⁴¹ There are thus a wide range of locally based initiatives which local authorities can take to promote such activities.

Recommendation

16) Local authorities should be urged to consider food production as part of their future planning and contribution to Food Sovereignty. This could include actions such as through the provision of allotments and community plots and the development of garden share schemes.