Excluding brewing and distilling, the food and beverages sector of the Scottish economy is estimated to employ about one in six of the manufacturing workforce and has a gross added value of just over £1000m per annum. These industries also have a strong link with suppliers of machinery and packaging equipment within the local economy, and of course with Scottish agriculture which provides an important part of the raw material used. On the conservative assumption that Scotland is responsible for about 10% of the U.K. exports of unprocessed and processed foods, which total just short of £3000m per annum and that exports depend on high quality standards in choice of raw material for processing, Scotland should be uniquely placed to contribute to the government-backed 'Food from Britain' campaign which is now getting under way.