£50K of funding launched to help make Scottish food healthier
25 January 2024
Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland has announced £50,000 of funding to help Scottish producers to make their food healthier.
Food and drink businesses have a real desire to offer a wider range of healthier products – but the associated costs can be challenging. This is why FDF Scotland developed the Reformul8 Challenge Fund. This fourth round of support was made possible due to funding received from Scotland Food & Drink.
The fund is open to small and medium sized food and drink businesses across Scotland - with up to £5,000 available for each successful business.
The fund will be used for a wide range of activities. This includes accessing nutritional testing and technical support, working with ingredient suppliers to source and trial new innovative solutions that can improve the health of products and improving production capacity.
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The winners will be announced at a free showcase event – Celebrating Reformulation and Innovation for Health – hosted by FDF Scotland and Interface at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on 26 February 2024.
To date 46 businesses have been supported in their reformulation journey through three previous rounds of funding. Those winners include some of Scotland’s most-loved brands - Bells Food Group, Simon Howie, We Hae Meat, Border Biscuits, Dean’s of Huntly, Arran Dairies, Strathmore Foods, JG Ross and Cobbs Bakery.
his has led to many great success stories. Bells Food Group reduced the salt in their pie shells by 50% - taking almost nine tonnes of salt out of the Scottish diet – the equivalent to nine family sized cars. While Tower Bakery almost doubled the fibre content in some of their bread roll ranges to meet the Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations.
Food and drink businesses have until 16 February 2024 to apply for the fund: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Reformul8.
Joanne Burns, Reformulation for Health Manager, FDF Scotland, said:
“I am delighted to be able to support more Scottish food and drink manufacturers with the fourth round of the Reformul8 Challenge Fund.
“Creating a wider range of healthier products can help food businesses to meet growing consumer demand for healthier options and to achieve public health targets.
“The fund is a great way to help businesses kick start their reformulation journey. Along with bespoke help and guidance from the Reformulation for Health team we can help you get those products to shelf - improving the health of Scotland’s people one product at a time!”
If food and drink businesses are interested in finding out more about how FDF Scotland can support you with recipe reformulation please email reformulation@fdfscotland.org.uk.
More information
For more information or for media opportunities, please contact kirsty.tinsdale@fdfscotland.org.uk / 07508 303 736
- FDF Scotland’s Reformulation for Health programme, funded by the Scottish Government, is helping small and medium sized food companies to make their products healthier.
- Since the launch of the Reformulation for Health Programme in 2019 we have helped to remove hundreds of millions of calories and tonnes of salt from the Scottish diet.
- FDF Scotland has launched the fourth round of the Reformul8 Challenge Fund to support food and drink businesses with the associated financial costs of making their products healthier. Food and drink businesses have until 16 February 2024 to apply for the fund. Funding awards range from £250 to £5,000. Applicants must provide at least 50% of the total project costs. Businesses may contribute more than 50% of the total but the maximum fund remains fixed at £5,000.
- FDF Scotland and Interface are hosting a free showcase event on 26 February - Celebrating Reformulation and Innovation for Health – at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Find out more and register.