The first meeting of the Food and Drink Leadership Forum which was set up in June has been hailed as significant in bringing forward Scotland’s national food and drink policy.

Member of Scottish parliament and cabinet secretary for rural affairs and the environment Richard Lochhead said: “I look forward to seeing the results from this forum in the coming months. It will help us to deliver a policy which achieves the freshest, finest future for Scottish food and drink.”

The group is expected to give recommendations on food and drink policy by early 2009. Lochhead said: “There is a genuine enthusiasm to change the way we eat, produce and sell food and drink. We now have a real opportunity to make these significant changes for the better.”