Accurate labelling key to keeping Scottish brands trustworthy at home and abroad

IT IS something you don't often hear nowadays. Walking into the village store in rural Dumfriesshire earlier this week, I asked the owner is she had any strawberries.

"Sorry - they're not ready yet" she told me. The shop only buys from one grower on the Solway coast and they weren't ripe enough for her satisfaction. The concept of having to wait for something to achieve edible perfection was a blast from the past.

As consumers, we've lost touch with the seasons. Thanks to the supermarkets, nowadays we're eating Moroccan raspberries in February and Kenyan green beans in November.

Everything is ready all the time. So our current love for all things seasonal and local has been a challenge for the big suppliers. We're rediscovering the rhythm of the year that producers have always known.

Demanding seasonal and local produce has ensured British asparagus, Jersey royal potatoes and Scottish strawberries and raspberries are all plentiful on the shelves, if only for a limited time. But push them aside and you are left with the question, what is seasonal and local?

Are soft fruits grown under poly-tunnels in controlled environments as seasonal as plants taking their chances in the open air?

And if you live in Inverness, can apples from an orchard in Kent, driven back and forth between distributors before their long run north ever be seen as local?

After so many food scares, it's amazing how trusting we are as consumers. If a cardboard sign says "seasonal and local" we believe it will be. In fact the more artisan it looks, the more convinced we are.

A few weeks ago, Consumer Focus Scotland and the National Farmers' Union Scotland launched Shelf Watch. It's an excellent scheme, which encourages shoppers to police the shop shelves. Consumers are being urged to use their mobiles to take photos of good and bad uses of Scottish labelling while out doing their grocery shopping.

Nigel Miller of NFU Scotland said: "Scottish branding is clearly important to retailers and, in the vast majority of supermarkets, is used appropriately to promote sales of Scottish produce. However, instances of high profile Scottish branding being used inappropriately on shelves, counters and cabinets - some of which on closer inspection are found to be stocked with produce from elsewhere - continues to be an issue."

Where that happens, consumers are deliberately being misled, but on the plus side, it's great to see Scotland is now such a desirable food brand.

The news last week that exports of Scottish produce have smashed the billion pound barrier proves just what is at stake here.

For the big retailers, the solution seems to be provenance. It's hard to buy a supermarket strawberry without being told the name of the grower and his inside leg measurement. It brings a hint of farmers market familiarity to the otherwise anonymous superstore shopping experience but it guarantees nothing.

Seasonal and local makes good sense.

It's fresher so it tastes better and a shorter journey does less damage to the environment. But without real definition it is a phrase without meaning.

The solution is proper labelling.

The issue has dragged on for years, but Scotland's minister for rural affairs and the environment Richard Lochhead is giving it his attention.

Scotland the brand means something powerful here and abroad, but brands can easily be tarnished.

Already, Shelf Watch has uncovered examples of Welsh lamb sold as Scottish and that could be just the tip of the iceberg. An accurate labelling system is needed to reassure consumers at home and abroad.

Getting what you pay for is the first rule of commerce. Surely it's not too much to ask?