Ewing wants name protection
Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing yesterday chastised his UK counterpart Michael Gove after seeing a number of potential trade deals being put together without reference to Scottish Protected Food Names such as Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb.
The issue first arose earlier this year when Gove’s predecessor, Andrea Leadson, was involved in trade negotiations with Canada. While beef and lamb were mentioned in the package, there was no special mention of Scotch Beef or Scotch Lamb.
Ewing described this omission as disappointing and it was made worse by a lack of acknowledgement by the UK government.
“We do not appear to have received a response to that letter [sent in February] in which I raised a number of important points, in particular around the previous assurances we were given by the UK government on future consultation on products to be included for protection as part of ongoing and future trade deals,” Ewing said.
“As I’m sure you appreciate, our protected food name producers value the protection that Geographical Indication provides and the omission of products such as Scottish Farmed Salmon could put the industry at a commercial disadvantage.
“Moreover, it has been brought to our attention by Quality Meat Scotland, our red meat industry body, that the current negotiations around the EU trade deal with Japan do not include Scotch Beef or Scotch Lamb on the list of protected products, nor does the proposed EU trade deal with Mexico include Scotch Lamb.”
These omissions, he claimed, came despite getting previous assurances that the Scottish Government would be fully consulted on deals for inclusion of protected food names.