SWA chief appointed to Scottish food and drink forum

Published: 21 August, 2008

Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the Scottish Whisky Association (SWA) has been appointed drinks representative of Scotland's new Food and Drink Leadership Forum.

Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of the Scottish Whisky Association (SWA) has been appointed drinks representative of Scotland's new Food and Drink Leadership Forum.

Hewitt will play a key role in helping the Scottish Government put into place its first national food and drink policy.

The forum was set up in June. The SWA says it welcomes a joint policy approach, saying that scotch whisky and other drinks face issues common across the Scottish food & drink supply chain, including environmental sustainability, skills, exports and tourism, and promoting responsible consumption.

The first meeting was held in Edinburgh yesterday. Speaking from the meeting, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead said: "Today's leadership forum marks an important step in the development of the first national food and drink policy for Scotland. This first meeting brings together a high-profile group of experts in their field to keep the momentum which has built up around food and drink going.

"There is a genuine enthusiasm to change the way we eat, buy, produce and sell food and drink. We now have a real opportunity to make these significant changes for the better, and I am confident that this forum of food champions is best placed to take this work forward.

"There is already a significant amount of work ongoing across Government and this forum will help ensure we continue to pull this all together in a coherent way. I look forward to seeing the results from this forum in the coming months, which will help us to deliver a policy which achieves the freshest, finest future for Scottish food and drink."

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