£4m lifeline to encourage food makers to go healthy

THE Scottish Government has unveiled ambitious plans for a £4 million initiative aimed at helping food and drink companies to develop new products to tap into the rapidly expanding health and nutrition sector.

Scottish Enterprise is funding the new Food and Health Innovation Service which will help 400 companies over the next five years gain access to Scottish research in bringing a new healthy foods to the market.

It aims to build on Scotland's international reputation for quality natural products such as berries, fish, meat and oats, as well as research expertise at institutions such as Aberdeen University's Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, Queen Margaret University, and the Scottish Crop Research Institute.

The scheme was announced yesterday by environment secretary Richard Lochhead.

He said: "Scotland has a justifiably proud heritage of excellence in research, not least in the food and drink arena.

"I'm delighted that with this 4m investment we will be harnessing this expertise to provide the science, innovation and technology which are vital to sustainably growing the industry."

Maggie McGinlay, the director of Scottish Enterprise's food and drink team, said there was an opportunity for Scottish companies to tap into the booming worldwide market.

She said: "The global health, nutrition and wellbeing market is expected to be worth 348 billion by 2012. The UK market is currently worth 20bn and Scotland's share is 1bn of that.

"With the quality of our natural products and the wealth of research available in Scotland, there's no reason why our companies can't capture a larger share of both the UK and global markets."

A Scottish Enterprise spokeswoman added: "This project will provide companies with the skills and expertise to create new or improved products that will allow them to target different markets."