The Scottish government's public discussion on food policy has been attacked as "bland motherhood and apple pie" and "ridiculous" by an international food expert.
But the criticisms have been dismissed as an extreme rant'' by the rural affairs and environment minister, Richard Lochhead, who pointed out that the discussion had been welcomed by the vast majority of people.
Dr Peter Bowbrick, an Edinburgh-based consultant who said he has helped 30 countries develop food policies, has been fiercely critical of the discussion paper, Choosing The Right Ingredients, launched by Lochhead in January.
The document "does not reach the standards I would expect in even the poorest countries", Bowbrick said. "It appears to be the result of a brainstorming session written up by a spin doctor."
No government has the resources to do everything set out in the document, he argued. "A policy document should narrow priorities down until we have something that the government can achieve now."
The government must take some tough decisions, Bowbrick said. Any food policy will mean some firms going out of business, some people losing their livelihoods. So decisions must be made on hard facts and hard analysis. Neither of these is available in Scotland.'' He added: Even in a rich country like Scotland, food policy is about deciding that some people should live and some should die. It is a very nasty decision to have to make, but at least when I have done it, I have known that I have done my homework first.'' Bowbrick said he had worked for the United Nations, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Bank. His comments were made on a public forum about the government's food policy on the website of the government's green advisers, the Sustainable Development Commission.
On Friday, Lochhead said: "I have spoken to hundreds of more people around Scotland about the food discussion than this self-acclaimed international expert and this extreme rant is a million miles from what they have told me. The vast majority of people have commended the Scottish government."
