Eating for Health: a Diet Action Plan for Scotland

2. PRIMARY PRODUCERS

2.1 We begin with the primary producers because they are the first link in the food supply chain which culminates in the consumer. By producers we mean, basically, the farming and fish industries. What they produce - and how it is used - is crucial to a healthy diet.

2.2 There is evidence that a high intake of fruit and vegetables of all kinds helps to protect against ischaemic heart disease and a variety of cancers and intestinal disorders, all of which are common in Scotland. Fruit and vegetables provide a wide range of nutrients and other biologically active components which are increasingly recognised as protective of health. These foods are rich sources of several vitamins, including folic acid, which, in addition to preventing deficiency diseases, such as anaemia, are important before and during early pregnancy for the developing fetus and will help prevent arterial damage, coronary heart disease and strokes later in life. Fruit and vegetables also have a variety of complex effects which are linked to the prevention of cancer.

2.3 Cereals in the form of bread and breakfast cereals, pasta and rice are the foods which provide the greatest number of calories in the total diet; they are also important sources of many minerals, including iron, and vitamins and dietary fibre. Greater intake of these commodities is an appropriate substitute for calories derived from fat.

2.4 Higher consumption of fish, in particular oil-rich fish, has been shown to be associated with reduced mortality from coronary heart disease and improved blood lipid profiles.

2.5 Meat and dairy foods can be valuable components of healthy, well balanced diets provided they are eaten in appropriate amounts balanced with other meal components, and provided the meat is lean and the dairy products are low in fat.

2.6 It is clear, therefore, that primary producers have a crucial role in providing healthy food products to consumers. And it is worth noting that certain important groups of fresh foods consumed in Scotland are also produced locally, in particular a number of soft fruits and vegetables, meat and fish. We accept that, prima facie, the direct influence of Scottish producers on the Scottish diet may be limited, partly because a relatively small proportion of all foods consumed in Scotland is produced here and partly because the nature of primary production is governed to a large extent by consumer demand. However, as consumer interest in healthy eating has increased, producers have adapted production to meet consumer needs and have developed, especially in recent years, a variety of marketing initiatives to meet that interest.

2.7 The quality of Scottish soft fruit and vegetables, for example, continues to improve year on year. Growers have created novel shopping environments, such as farm shop and farm gate sales, and the Potato Marketing Board has taken steps to encourage consumption of potatoes. All these initiatives have served to heighten the profile to the consumer of the health benefits and attractiveness of fruit and vegetables. Livestock farmers have sought to provide lower fat cuts of meat and leaner breeds of animals; and they have promoted the naturally lower fat meats such as venison and poultry. In its promotional work, the fishing industry, including the fish farming industry, has highlighted the health attributes of eating fish and has introduced to the consumer new species seldom exploited even 5 years ago. Producers have, therefore, demonstrated clearly their capability to respond positively and effectively to changes in consumer demand. The Action Group believes that there is scope for producers to stimulate demand for their healthy products still further with a change in the overall balance of the foods produced.

2.8 The horticultural sector, in particular, appears to offer real potential for further innovatory promotional activity which, if successful, will provide major opportunities for Scottish producers to contribute to the planned doubling of fruit and vegetable consumption over the next 10 years. The sector has also been organised in such a way as to align itself with the requirements of the supermarkets which, in recent years, have increased both the space and range given to horticultural products and, in doing so, have generated considerable consumer demand. Proposals to reform the EU fruit and vegetable regime are currently under consideration. One of the key features of the proposals is encouragement to set up producers' groups which, amongst other things, will provide the opportunity to improve product quality and increase promotion of fresh fruit and vegetables.

2.9 The Group believes that this should be the impetus for the horticultural industry itself to develop a co-ordinated programme of initiatives to stimulate, inter alia, home demand for fruit and vegetables and to ensure that production meets this enhanced demand. The Group is aware that Scottish Enterprise has helped to establish a working group involving the vegetable and horticultural sectors. Within this working group there may be opportunities to develop initiatives which will benefit both commercial growth and the increased consumption of Scottish cultivated products. It is recommended, therefore, that this working group should be invited to open discussions with The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department, the relevant horticulture producers' organisations, the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, the multiple food retailers, and the Health Education Board for Scotland, to determine both the potential for ensuring maximum opportunities for Scottish produce to meet the expected consumer demand for healthier products and how these opportunities might be exploited. A major increase in the consumption of frozen fruit and vegetables would also lead to health benefits, so opportunities for expansion of the frozen market will need to be examined as well. Development proposals listed in the Annex to this section may offer the kind of opportunities the working group could pursue.

2.10 The meat and livestock industry has already demonstrated that it has the capacity to be both innovative and responsive to consumer demand. Over the last 15 years livestock producers have achieved significant reductions in the fat content of carcass meat through the development of leaner breeds of livestock, new feeding practices and the operation of carcass classification schemes. Livestock producers will wish to continue to respond to changing demand by developing to the full extent possible still leaner livestock taking into account the well-being and productivity of the animals. Many opportunities now exist for technological innovation in the breeding selection process and the industry should urgently examine further the recent advances in genetics which offer the potential for increased production of lean meats. It is essential that full advantage of this developmental work should be taken and that it should be appropriately focused. The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department is well placed to exercise an overview of current technological innovation. It should determine, therefore, in consultation with the Agricultural and Biological Research Institutes, the Meat and Livestock Commission and the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, the most effective approach to progressing further and co-ordinating this work. The Group understands that discussions with the Commission are already underway in England and so it may be desirable for action to be pursued on a UK basis.

2.11 The Action Group also considers that further opportunities exist for the meat and livestock industry to review its promotion, in the context of its contribution to achieving a healthy balanced diet, of the quality, dietary value, versatility and availability of its low fat products. It is also in a position to encourage healthier methods for their preparation and cooking in the context of an overall approach to the Group's recommendations on healthy eating. The industry, as well as consumers, needs to recognise that the amount of fat present in meat is not an appropriate measure of high meat quality. New approaches are necessary, both to assess and improve meat quality, so that consumers can reduce their fat intake without worrying that they are thereby sacrificing quality and palatability. The Meat and Livestock Commission is currently involved in this area and with some success. It is well placed, therefore, to take this work forward. Consumers have already demonstrated over the last 20 years a change in preference towards some lower fat foods eg semi-skimmed and skimmed milk. Palatability is likely to be influenced by habitual exposure and this offers the opportunity to change it through gradual alterations in food composition.

2.12 The successful work of the meat and livestock industry to reduce the fat content of meat has helped to contribute to the decline in total fat consumption in the UK as measured by the National Food Survey. However, there is evidence that the reduction in fat from meat (and from dairy products) has been offset by an increase in the amount of vegetable fats and oils available in the food chain. Action to reduce the overall fat content of manufactured and processed foods is discussed in Section 3.

2.13 There is the further need to reduce the amount of butter fat in the food chain. At present nearly all the fat skimmed from milk remains within the diet because it is used in the manufacture of cream, certain rich ice creams and bakery products. The food industry should not assume that palatability for a particular fat content in foods is absolute and fixed. As indicated in paragraph 2.11, it should be possible to make gradual changes in the fat content without any loss of palatability. Further action is required, therefore, to reduce the demand for the food products which absorb the excess butterfat. If food manufacturers and processors respond positively in this way, the dairy industry will require to investigate the possibility of alternative non-food markets for butterfat. Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and other such organisations may be able to assist in this.

2.14 Although fish provides a nutritious and tasty meal at relatively low cost and fish dishes are regarded as being of high status by the more select restaurants, the public tend to regard fish as a somewhat unattractive food for home preparation. Amongst Scottish consumers, the per capita consumption of fish increases markedly with age, with those in the age band 45-64 years eating about twice as much as people aged 16-27 years. The pattern of young people being light users of fish but then increasing their consumption as they grow older is long established and points to the need to capture their interest in fish in imaginative ways at an earlier stage. Scope exists, therefore, for the fishing industry, including fish farming interests, to heighten the profile of fresh and frozen fish, particularly oil rich fish such as herring, mackerel, salmon and trout which are not only of especial nutritional value but also provide economical and easily prepared meals.

2.15 No supply problems exist in relation to the oil rich species. While the total supply of white fish, such as cod, haddock and plaice, is partially dependent on imports, there is, currently, a surplus of home caught or cultivated oil rich fish which could readily meet any expansion in the Scottish market. A surplus would still exist irrespective of any reductions which might be made in future Common Fisheries Policy quotas for these species. The Sea Fish Industry Authority and the Scottish Salmon Board, in conjunction with the Health Education Board for Scotland and with the Scottish Seafood Project (which is supported by Scottish Enterprise and other development agencies) should work, therefore, to explore opportunities to maximise this potential. It may be, however, that the most realistic approach to increasing consumption of oil rich fish lies in the development of a wider range of attractive and nutritious processed products. Such an approach is considered in Section 3 of the Action Plan.

Action Points

Action should be taken to stimulate Scottish consumer demand for fruit and vegetables by means of innovative, developmental initiatives and imaginative marketing campaigns. Scottish Enterprise consulting, where appropriate, with the Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department, the relevant horticulture producers' organisations, the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, the multiple food retailers and the Health Education Board for Scotland, should continue its work in this area with Scottish vegetable and soft fruit growers in order to facilitate achievement of the doubling of fruit and vegetable consumption, the single most important dietary target. The Scottish Office Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries Department, in consultation with the Agricultural and Biological Research Institutes, the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, and the Meat and Livestock Commission, should press forward the breeding of still leaner livestock for human consumption. A co-ordinated strategy should be developed by meat producers, with the assistance of the Meat and Livestock Commission, to develop new low fat meat products which can be promoted collectively by purchasing authorities in the public sector, by health alliances, by retailers and by the Health Education Board for Scotland. The dairy industry should explore the possibility of alternative non-food markets for butter fat. The Sea Fish Industry Authority and the Scottish Salmon Board, in conjunction with the Health Education Board for Scotland, should work with the Scottish Seafood Project to help stimulate consumer demand for oil rich fish.

Potential Development Opportunities for the Horticultural Sector

exploration, with the major food retailers, of the sector's capacity to meet supermarkets' requirements with local produce development of further innovative advertising methods to promote fruit and vegetables, including potatoes, in terms of their health benefit, versatility, ease of preparation and value for money in order to encourage the required doubling in consumption of these products development of a quality mark for fruit and vegetables research on the growing of fruit and vegetables in Scotland to expand the variety and suitability of different crops whilst ensuring the biological value, eg nutritional content, of the foods is maintained and, if possible, enhanced. increased direct selling at outdoor markets encouragement of snacking on fruit exploration of the potential for increasing consumption of frozen fruit and vegetables expansion of provision of added value crops such as prepared vegetables and salads.