Charities issue plea for an independent food commissioner

ORGANISATIONS including FareShare, WWF Scotland and the Trussell Trust have come together to call for an independent Food Commission in Scotland.

In a joint letter sent to the First Minister, the signatories have urged for the commission to be established under the Good Food Nation Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.

The groups believe such a body is necessary to ensure action on pressing challenges facing the food system, such as food insecurity, health inequalities, avoidable waste and climate damage.

Scottish Care, OneKind, RSPB

Scotland, STUC and Unite the Union also put their names to the letter. Similar agencies, like the Just Transition Commission and Poverty and Inequality Commission, have been set up in the past to tackle societal issues.

It comes after the release of a report by the Scottish Food Coalition, which revealed the country’s food system to be in a “broken state”.

Lang Banks, right, director of WWF Scotland, said: “The way we currently produce and consume food are some of the biggest drivers of the twin climate and nature crisis we face today. We need an independent body – a Food Commission – to navigate our progress towards a better, more integrated food system if we are to meet the needs of people in a nature and climate-friendly way.”

Tilly Robinson-Miles, impact and policy officer at older people’s charity, Food Train, said: “Scotland cannot afford for the Good Food Nation Bill to become a missed opportunity. “An independent food commission would play a critical part in driving forward the change needed – to make the nation a world leader in how it addresses issues around food.”

The Good Food Nation Bill is currently at stage three in the Scottish Parliament.