18/06/22 National Food Strategy; Scottish Salmon.

The government's long awaited food strategy was published this week - to mixed reactions. The white paper is its response to the National Food Strategy published by one of the founders of the Leon restaurant chain Henry Dimbleby, around a year ago. He was commissioned to look at the whole food system and find ways of providing affordable healthy food while tackling obesity and meeting climate objectives. The white paper doesn't back all of his proposals: a sugar and salt tax, is out; nor does it expand free school meals; and it avoids his recommendation of a cut in meat consumption of 30 percent. The National Farmers Union has welcomed the white paper's focus on food production in the UK, but some farming organisations say it's weak and doesn't go far enough.

All week on Farming Today we've been looking at salmon - farmed and wild. Scottish salmon is the UK’s biggest fresh food export with overseas sales hitting £614 million in 2021, that's a third more than in 2020. Salmon aquaculture directly employs 2,500 people, and the industry says it supports 10,000 jobs across Scotland. But critics say all that comes at too high a price, they cite concerns about the environmental impact and the welfare of the fish. Salmon farming is a controversial topic - so we've been talking to those who love it, and those who hate it.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney