Award of RESAS/015/22: Estimation and Evaluation of the Origins of Food Consumed in Scotland

Introduction1. The Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) Division within Scottish Government wishes to commission a project to estimate and evaluate the proportion of food consumed within Scotland that originates from Scotland (and not) in order to help support future food policy and develop its evidence base around the topic of sustainable food production and Food Security.Background & Context2. One of the widest accepted definition, from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is that ‘Food Security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life’.3. More specifically, we can consider different “levels” of food security. Two of interest to this research are:a) National food security – the ability of a country to consume sufficient foodstuffs, even in the face of severe disruptions to the supply chain. It can also be relevant at a Scottish, UK and EU level.b) Global food security – the ability of the world’s agricultural producers to meet global demand (i.e. food insecurity, population growth, climate change), and the efficiency and effectiveness of trading and distribution systems.4. It is widely accepted that sourcing food from a diverse range of stable countries and regions, in addition to domestically, enhances a nation’s food security – albeit the diversity of sources varies from one food category to another.5. As reported by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), in 2020 , the UK supplied just over half (54%) of the food consumed in the UK. The leading foreign supplier of food consumed in the UK were countries from the EU (28%). Africa, Asia, North and South America each provided a 4% share of the food consumed in the UK.6. While a UK figure afford us insight, into what is a significantly integrated intra-UK food and drink supply chain, such a figure fails to appreciate the varied capacity and structure of Scotland relative to the rest of the UK (rUK). As such there exists an evidence gap of the quantity/proportion of food that is consumed within Scotland, that is grown, reared and/or caught within Scotland itself (or not as the case may be).