Scotland has cultivated a reputation as a producer of high-quality healthy food. Underpinning this reputation is accurate and reliable food safety testing to produce nutritious and safe food. Accurately identifying food and feedstuff ingredients contaminated with chemical or biological toxins is crucial to protect the public from harm and to reduce waste due to unsuitable foodstuffs being manufactured and then rejected.

Certain types of persistent organic pollutants are used in polymers, waterproofing agents, stain repellents, firefighting foams, and grease-proof food packaging materials. These pollutants resist breakdown, persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in blood, liver, and other organs. Drinking water can be a major source of contamination from production plants or recyclable food plastics inherent in the environment. Foods that contain high levels of these organic pollutants include fish, fish products, and meat offal.

Certain types of alkaloids, which are nitrogen-containing compounds produced in plants and fungi as defence components, can also be carried over into foods. These toxins are developed by several plant genera and can cause liver damage, acute narcosis, and paralysis. Food types containing them include honey, potatoes, cereals, herbal teas, supplements, herbs and spices, cereal grains, and even animal products, such as milk, eggs, and offal. Contamination can occur from weeds or via pollen. The prevalence of these contaminants in foods is not widely understood and sufficient evidence is required to reach a consensus on safe levels for legislative or regulatory purposes. Such information is timely and relevant as we transition from the settled alignment with the legal and regulatory frameworks with of the EU to post-EU Exit arrangements.

Scotland faces a significant and recalcitrant burden of diet-related disease caused in part by a diet too high in calories, fats, sugar, and salt. Two-thirds of the UK population is overweight and attempts to reduce this figure through dietary goals have failed for the last 17 years. This is a key challenge which requires new thinking and a multi-faceted and committed approach to drive change. Given the public’s resistance to changing their diet even in the face of major public health education efforts, reformulation of commonly eaten foods to reduce calories, fats, sugars, and salts may continue to be a valuable tool to provide dietary change. Innovation to provide new components that can aid such reformulation is therefore a potential novel area to bring about dietary change. The reformulation of commonly eaten foods can create innovative, healthier food products by providing specific dietary fibres, sugar substitutes and flavour components that allow for salt reduction.