Scotland Food & Drink: Allowing the sector access to facts on sustainability

A key initiative from the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Recovery Plan, which is supported by the Scottish Government to the tune of £10 million, and it offers free access to a range of reports, events and bespoke insights to all Scottish food and drink companies.

As the industry rebuilds following the many months of disruption caused by the pandemic, this new insights service will play a pivotal role in helping Scottish food and drink businesses, of all sizes and across all sectors, use market insight and intelligence to help differentiate their offerings in the global marketplace.

While sustainability – in its widest definition – needs to be at the heart of who the food and drink progresses in the future, innovation will also come into play as Amanda Brown, project director at The Knowledge Bank, explains: “Innovation will be key to this journey both in terms of scientific and technical needs but also in food and drink companies who will need to explore with their suppliers and supply chains how they must innovate to reduce the impact of their products while ensuring they remain safe both to eat and in transit.

“We also must recognise that not all food and drink businesses have the resources to help them think about and make changes that will have a positive effect on the environment.

“However, within the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership there are resources and people who can help and signpost to support that is available.”

Collaboration, Ms Brown points out, will be crucial and the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership sums up that ethos with the partnership comprising of industry bodies, public sector organisations and a research collaboration which makes the parent Scotland Food & Drink body the only one in the world to facilitate government and industry to work side by side.

Since its launch in June, The Knowledge Bank has been working on a programme of sector and market-specific webinars and report alongside some “deep dives” into the big opportunities in e-commerce, sustainability and the rise in consumer demand for healthy products.

“As well as our own bespoke commissioned research we will be working in partnership with intelligence companies such as IGD, Kantar WorldPanel and Nielsen,” said Ms Brown. “We will be looking at market opportunities both here in the UK as well as in key and emerging export markets.

“We will be accessing data, research and intelligence from domestic and international markets and, for the first time, analysing, disseminating and supporting businesses to turn this insight into action. This presents invaluable access to a wide range of reports and knowledge that would previously have been financially prohibitive to source for many small to medium-sized companies working in the industry.”

Sustainability, she adds, really does matter to consumers so working in partnership with others in the supply chain – from the growers and catchers to the retailers and restauranteurs that interact with consumers – has never been more important, particularly when everyone views sustainability through a different lens.

“Consumers think about packaging, how they can reduce, recycle or reuse – they think about supporting local businesses both from a food miles perspective but also freshness, and they also see sustainability stretching into what they eat and where is comes from,” Ms Brown continued.

“Policymakers, however, tend to focus on the legislation needed to achieve 20, 30 and 40-year targets while producers, manufacturers and the retailers and foodservice businesses view it from yet another perspective including transport, food safety, operational efficiency, packaging, supply chain management, ingredient sourcing – the list goes on.”

Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow in November, the global event that will further raise awareness of sustainability, net zero, climate change, the IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) has produced research that shows how impactful David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II has been at influencing consumers’ behaviour around making sustainable choices.

“Impacts from Covid have been financial with some consumers now facing the challenge of affordability which will influence how they shop and what brands they can afford to buy but still with aspirations to be doing their bit and being responsible,” said Ms Brown. “As consumers, we’ve become more aware of food waste as we’ve been at home for longer periods and done more cooking from scratch.

“However, as we see things return to the ‘new normal’, consumer behaviour is changing again. We’re seeing people go shopping more often and back to pre-Covid levels, and increased frequency also brings with it less planning as shoppers ‘buy for tonight’ more often – this tends to mean that we’re shopping more conveniently and for more convenience type foods. This all has an impact on the number of items we buy and, of course, packaging.

“Some businesses view this as a marketing opportunity but we see this as something that we must all get involved in to protect our world for the next generation and the ones that will come next.”

Ms Brown added: “We are well placed in the Scottish food and drink industry to take on these challenges together and with challenges will come the opportunity to talk about what we’re doing and why, to talk about the natural environment that is used to breed our animals and grow our crops, and the efficiencies we are putting in place in our manufacturing processes to ensure that Scotland is seen as a global player in food and drink sustainability.”

For further information on The Knowledge Bank, please visit www.foodanddrink.scot/the-knowledge-bank/

This article is brought to you in association with Scotland Food & Drink.