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Promoting healthy Scottish produce
04/09/2008
The role of schools, colleges and universities in educating Scotland's palate is being highlighted by Fiona Hyslop as she embarks on eating only Scottish food over the next seven days (5 - 12 September).
The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning will discover the delicious food available in Scotland, enjoying the best of what the country has to offer in terms of high-quality foods, as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
Alongside her pledge to 'Eat Scottish', Ms Hyslop will undertake a variety of visits, starting at Forth Valley College on September 5. The college has a successful catering programme at the Raploch Community Campus in Stirling, where chefs in training provide school meals for local primary schools.
Over the course of the week, Ms Hyslop will also be experiencing:
- The emphasis on healthy, Scottish food that the Scottish Agricultural College take through their training programmes
- The partnership approach between schools and local farms in East Ayrshire to teach children about where there food comes from
- The innovative organic and Fairtrade café facilities that the University of Edinburgh Student Association provides for students
Looking to the week ahead, Ms Hyslop said:
"In Scotland, we have a fantastic array of fresh, seasonal and healthy foods and I'm looking forward to the experience of eating only Scottish food for the next week.
"Understanding about healthy eating and that the food Scotland has to offer is some of the freshest and finest in the world starts both at home and in school.
"Throughout the next week I will be seeing first-hand how schools, colleges and universities are playing there part; from early learning about healthy eating habits, through to the excellent training available for our future chefs and food professionals, such as offered at Forth Valley College."
Linda McKay, Principal of Forth Valley College, said:
"We are delighted that the Cabinet Secretary has chosen to begin her Eat Scottish Week with a visit to the hospitality students at Forth Valley College.
"This visit is further support for the approach we are taking with our hospitality programmes, which are clearly contributing to our local community and, most importantly, providing real work and career opportunities for young people who might otherwise have found life much more difficult."
Following on from the First Minister's Eat Scottish Week in March, all Cabinet Secretaries have committed to eat only Scottish produce for one week. This is also in support of Stephen Jardine of STV's year-long pledge to eat only Scottish food. Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, undertook his Eat Scottish Week in May.
The emphasis of the week will be on building Scottish ingredients into everyday meals, checking the labels when out shopping and asking where food comes from when eating out in restaurants and canteens.
Scottish Food Fortnight, run by the Scottish Countryside Alliance Education Trust, begins on 5 September. It is being launched by Richard Lochhead and aims to bring together producers, politicians and the public to celebrate local food and showcase the wealth and quality of Scottish produce.
The Scottish Government is developing the first ever cross-cutting national food policy for Scotland, which goes far beyond what people in Scotland eat and takes into account the impact of food on all aspects of life, from business and industry to education and health.
New nutritional guidelines for healthy, wholesome meals in all primary schools in Scotland were introduced last month.