The food environment
What surrounds us, shapes us.
What's on this page:
The food environment influences our food choices, making it difficult to buy and eat healthy food.
Find out what is included in the ‘food environment’ and how it affects us.
What is the food environment?
The food environment refers to all the factors around us that influence what we eat, such as what food is available, how it is advertised, and the ways it’s promoted.
You can watch our video to learn how the food environment is influencing our food choices.
Accessible video options available
It’s difficult to eat well when most things around us encourage the opposite, and this can lead to poorer health over time. Right now, the food environment strongly promotes low-cost foods that contribute too much to our intake of energy, fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar.
Improving our population’s health has never been more important. The food environment needs to change to make it easier for everyone to access an affordable, healthier and more sustainable diet, with more fruit, vegetables and fibre, and fewer unhealthy foods.
Our role
At Food Standards Scotland, we are working with partners and industry towards our vision of a food environment where healthy, affordable options are readily available for everyone.
To learn more about what we are doing to achieve this vision, you can read our public health nutrition strategy.
New research finds that digital promotions fuel over-ordering of takeaways
Nutrition research
Find out about the research we do to support the improvement of the Scottish diet.
