National Good Food Nation Plan

The national Good Food Nation Plan sets out six over-arching Outcomes for a Good Food Nation; the range of targets and indicators that will be used to gauge progress towards achieving them; and details of a wide range of food-related policies and initiatives from across the Scottish Government.


Footnotes

1 For reference purposes, further details of the legislative requirements that apply to this Good Food Nation Plan are set out at Annex B.

2 We define food system in line with the UN definition as: “all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes” (UNEP (2016) Food Systems and Natural Resources. A Report of the Working Group on Food Systems of the International Resource Panel).

3 Note that “food system” is distinct from the “food environment”. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations states that: “Food environments comprise the foods available to people in their surroundings as they go about their everyday lives and the nutritional quality, safety, price, convenience, labelling and promotion of these foods. Food environments play an important role in shaping diets because they provide the choices people have when they make decisions about what to eat. A healthy food environment is one that creates the conditions that enable and encourage people to access and choose healthy diets.”

4 The Scottish Parliament set out its priorities for the Good Food Nation in the Act. The six Outcomes have been informed in particular by the sections of the Act relating to food-related issues (Section 1 (6)) and principles (Section 2).

5 Section 8 of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 requires that the national Good Food Nation Plan be reviewed at least every five years.

6 'have regard' is a legal term meaning to take the relevant document into account and, if Scottish Ministers decide to depart from it, they must have and give clear reasons for doing so.

7 This new, statutory, Scottish Food Commission is not to be confused with the previous, non-statutory commission of the same name which was disbanded in 2018.

8 Please refer to Annex B for full detail of the legislative requirements applying to this document.

9 “Diet-related conditions” refers to health conditions that are influenced or caused by an individual's dietary behaviours. These conditions can arise due to either inadequate or excessive consumption of certain nutrients. Common diet-related conditions include: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, certain types of cancer, nutrient deficiencies, and digestive disorders.

10 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations a “sustainable food system is one that delivers food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generation is not compromised.”

11 See Annex B for full details of legislative requirements in the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022.

12 The NPF sets out 11 National Outcomes for Scotland: these Outcomes describe the kind of Scotland the framework aims to create.

13 The SDGs are a set of “global goals” and targets that are part of an internationally agreed call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.

14 Only the international instruments listed at Section 5(2) of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 are included in this table.

15 Chapter 4 Diet and Food Insecurity - The Scottish Health Survey 2021 - volume 1: main report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

16 Chapter 4 Diet and Food Insecurity - The Scottish Health Survey 2021 - volume 1: main report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

17 https://www.foodstandards.gov.scot/publications-and-research/nutrition-research/developing-consumer-advice

18 Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions - Our World in Data

19 Healthy Living Awards - Diet and healthy weight: monitoring report 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

20 IPBES (2019), Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Williams, DR orcid.org/0000-0002-0379-1800, Clark, M, Buchanan, GM et al. (3 more authors) (2021) Proactive conservation to prevent habitat losses to agricultural expansion. Nature Sustainability, 4 (4). pp. 314-322. ISSN 2398-9629

21 Based on UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment 12 on the right to adequate food

22 The Eatwell Guide – A more Sustainable Diet The eatwell guide | The Carbon Trust

23 Biodiversity Intactness Index data | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)

24 State of Nature Scotland 2023 State of Nature Scotland 2023 Report | NatureScot

25 Agriculture | Free Full-Text | The Role of Consumer-Citizens and Connectedness to Nature in the Sustainable Transition to Agroecological Food Systems: The Mediation of Innovative Business Models and a Multi-Level Perspective (mdpi.com)

26 Only the international instruments listed at Section 5(2) of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 are included in this table.

Contact

Email: goodfoodnation@gov.scot

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