We use cookies to collect anonymous data to help us improve your site browsing experience.

Click 'Accept all cookies' to agree to all cookies that collect anonymous data. To only allow the cookies that make the site work, click 'Use essential cookies only.' Visit 'Set cookie preferences' to control specific cookies.

Set cookie preferences

Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Policy

Food and drink

Directorate
Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate, +1 more … Marine Scotland Directorate
Part of
Business, industry and innovation, Education, Farming and rural, +1 more … Health and social care
Policy actions  1 of 4

Good Food Nation policy

We published the national food and drink policy Becoming a Good Food Nation in 2014. The policy set a new vision for Scotland: that by 2025 Scotland will 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.”

We remain committed to the concept and reality of achieving our vision of Scotland as a Good Food Nation where:

  • it is the norm for Scots to take a keen interest in their food, knowing what constitutes good food, valuing it and seeking it out whenever they can
  • people who serve and sell food – from schools to hospitals, retailers, cafes and restaurants – are committed to serving and selling good food
  • everyone in Scotland has ready access to the healthy, nutritious food they need
  • dietary-related diseases are in decline, as is the environmental impact of our food consumption
  • Scottish producers ensure that what they produce is increasingly healthy and environmentally sound

We are working hard to make a real and positive difference to the lives of the people of Scotland by:

  • helping to improve their access to, and understanding of, the benefits of healthy local foods
  • ensuring sustainability of our wonderful food industry
  • ensuring food companies are a thriving feature of the economy and places where people want to work
  • looking to grow Scotland’s reputation as a Good Food Nation from which other countries can learn

Achieving the Good Food Nation vision 

Consultation on proposals for legislation

The Good Food Nation proposals for legislation consultation  published in December 2018 included our proposals around the Good Food Nation ambition.

The consultation closed on 18 April 2019 and the Good Food Nation Proposals for Legislation: analysis of consultation responses was published on 11 September 2019. All feedback and responses from the consultation were analysed and informed the further development of our plans for policy action and legislation.

Programme of Measures

We have been working across government through an extensive programme of measures to deliver on our ambition to be a Good Food Nation and our work to deliver action and practical measures will continue throughout this Parliament, not least to encourage the use of sustainable local produce and to help our children eat well.

We published a Good Food Nation programme of measures, setting out the wide range of actions already underway and planned across Government, on 11 September 2018.

An updated Programme of Measures 2019 was published on 21 November 2019 and an interim update was published in March 2022.

Ministerial Working Group on Food

We committed in the 2019 to 2020 Programme for Government to set up a Ministerial Working Group on Food to co-ordinate action in relation to food and drink matters across government. This group was reinstated at the beginning of the new parliamentary session.

Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill

The Programme for Government 2019 to 2020 contained a commitment to bring forward a Good Food Nation Bill and work was well underway to prepare the Bill for introduction but was delayed by the need for parliamentary time to debate and implement emergency COVID-19 legislation.

The Programme for Government 2021 to 2022 restated the commitment to introduce a Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill and the Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 15 June 2022. The Bill received Royal Assent on 26 July 2022 and became an Act Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

More information about the Bill process can be found on the Scottish Parliament website.

Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022

The Act underpins in law the work that is already being done across the Scottish Government to make Scotland a Good Food Nation - it is the foundation upon which we will build our Good Food Nation.

The Act places duties on Scottish Ministers and certain public authorities to produce plans of their policies in relation to food and set out what they will do to make those plans real.

These plans will also have to set out the main outcomes to be achieved in relation to food-related issues, the policies needed to do this and the measures that will be used to assess progress.

These plans will deliver outcomes which support e.g. our nation’s social and economic wellbeing, the environment, people’s health and physical and mental wellbeing, economic development, animal welfare, education and child poverty.

A Scottish Food Commission will also be established for scrutinising and making recommendations in relation to the progress in achieving the outcomes in the good food nation plans; conducting research; and providing advice to Scottish Ministers and relevant authorities in carrying out their duties under the Act.

Programme to set up a Ministerial Working Group on Food to co-ordinate action in relation to food and drink matters across government. The first meeting took place on 14 January 2020.

Back to top