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Our choice of ingredients

29 April 2008

A survey of Skye and Lochalsh businesses and consumers gathered views for the national discussion, Choosing the Right Ingredients - The Future of Food in Scotland.

• Almost 60% of local residents defined local food as ‘food from Skye and Lochalsh’, with three-quarters of them also defining it as food from the Highlands and Islands. 
• 90% of respondents think that Skye has a great example of a local food network.
• Flavour was rated ‘much more highly’ (59%), followed by quality, healthy option and responsibly produced by over 40% those surveyed. Price and availability rated ‘less highly’ that non-locally produced food.
• Over 60% believe there are community benefits from supporting local food, giving village shops a chance to differentiate and increasing community pride and local ownership.
• Almost 80% of those surveyed said that more items available in local retail outlets would help most in increasing the availability of local food, particularly in Skye and Lochalsh.
• The biggest challenge identified by respondents was increased competition from supermarkets (80%) and not enough produce staying in the area (54%) and the loss of independent retail outlets (54%).
  
• Survey comments show that the lack of a local abattoir is the single biggest issue for Skye and Lochalsh.

Download our submission to the Food Policy for Scotland and the local food survey