John Dixon, Executive Director of Foods
Marks & Spencer has traded in Scotland for over 80 years and today our Scottish stores are visited by almost 2 million customers a week. Our reputation for quality, innovation and sustainability is built on excellent long term relationships with our suppliers.
Over a thousand Scottish farmers raise beef and lamb for M&S. We buy more Scottish haddock than any other retailer and we only buy trout from Scottish farms. In total we source over £260 million of food from Scotland - and we highlight much of this using the Saltire on our labels.
We're also making healthy eating easier for Scots through clear labelling -colour coded GDAs, our Eat Well sunflower, calorie labelling in our cafes and online advice. We were the first UK retailer to remove Hydrogenated fats, and have led initiatives to remove artificial colours and reduce levels of salt.
We take our ethical and environmental responsibilities extremely seriously. Plan A is our five year 100-point plan to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing business. Our commitments span 5 pillars: combating climate change; reducing waste; safeguarding natural resources; trading ethically; and helping customers lead healthier lifestyles.
Here are just a few of our 100 commitments:
- Make all our Scottish (and indeed, UK) operations carbon neutral by 2012
- Reduce carrier bag usage by 60% with a charging scheme that raises money for the charity Groundwork. £20,000 of this has renovated the play area and garden of an inner city farm in Edinburgh.
- Roll out our Milk Pledge - where Scottish dairy farmers benefit from a guaranteed set price - to other types of food
- Ensure our fresh salmon meets our Lochmuir welfare and environmental standards, and is enriched with Omega 3
As the UK's favourite quality food retailer, Scotland is a vital source of innovative and high quality food for us and we are pleased to be working with the Scottish Government on a national Food and Drink Policy. Through our partnerships with farmers and fishermen we are proud to sell their delicious food not just in Scotland or the rest of the UK, but around the world.