Aileen Campbell: Shamrock loyalty scheme offers much food for thought

Published on Wednesday 15 April 2009 22:01

WHEN shoppers go to a local supermarket in Ireland, they are rewarded with loyalty points for buying Irish produce. It is a "win-win" situation.

Like Scotland, Ireland's larder is glorious and plentiful, and like every other country in the world, it has an obligation to do all it can to help the environment by reducing food miles. The shamrock scheme is simple. I hope Scotland embraces the idea of a similar "Saltire" scheme here.

I am asking food producers, grocers, supermarkets and the Scottish Government to pursue outward-looking food policies to ensure maximum benefits for the nation's economy, society, environment and health. I believe the Saltire scheme ticks all the boxes.

In this time of economic difficulty, producers, retailers, consumers and governments need real policies to have positive impacts on pockets, bank balances and general confidence levels, as well as on the environment, and on our health and wellbeing.

Irish consumers are alerted to Irish products by a shamrock on shelves and till receipts. Here in Scotland, the potential impacts resulting from the display of a wee Saltire are massive.

Scottish food and drink is big business – it is our biggest manufacturing sector, employing nearly 50,000 people. When you add in producers and providers of raw food materials such as farmers and fishermen, and swathes of retail staff, it is possible to get an idea of what a food promotion strategy could achieve for our economy alone.

But the Saltire scheme is not just about industrial sectors, or macroeconomics. At an individual level, it is proper that we are rewarded for doing the right thing and buying local produce, supporting local producers and reducing food miles.

A loyalty scheme encourages consumers in tough times to make the right decisions without being neglected or left out of pocket.

In an age where positive strides have been made and where it is now trendy to visit farmers' markets or take delivery of locally-sourced veggie boxes, we have to push further. In urban areas especially, the middle-classes predominantly consume locally-produced food, and those less well off are more likely to make do with cheaper imports of fish, meats and veg. There is nothing wrong and an awful lot right with making it easier for people to buy local Scottish produce.

In the longer term, I hope the Saltire scheme will make the public think more about the food they buy and the processes by which it is produced, stored and transported before arriving on their plates.

It will come as no surprise that as a farmer's daughter, I want our food producers to be supported, but I hope and believe, with the right approach, this scheme could be used to promote healthy as well as local eating.

It isn't parochial to support Scottish food, and doesn't constitute protectionism. The Saltire scheme is not concerned with restricting trade, just making it easier for consumers to make positive decisions in their daily routines, helping them to think about food generally, and supporting our vital industries.

In this year of Homecoming, what better way for Scotland to show its food identity than by marking our wonderful home-grown produce with a Saltire? If we truly value our people, we should do all we can to promote and make available some of the finest produce there is – produce that is admired and consumed the world over – to everyone who lives here, as well as doing everything we can to support our industries and economy.

&#149 Aileen Campbell is a Scottish Nationalist MSP