Campaigners have compared this to similar policies, such as the just transition and child poverty.

Scotland’s civil society leaders have urged the First Minister to establish an independent Food Commission in a joint letter released on Monday.  

The signatories, including the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, FareShare and Soil Association, believe the new body is necessary to oversee action on the pressing and interconnected challenges facing the food system. 

The campaigners raised a number of issues - including food insecurity, health inequalities, the damaging impact on nature and climate, and avoidable waste. 

They point to similar agencies established to tackle complex societal issues, such as the Just Transition Commission and Poverty and Inequality Commission.

Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland said: “The way we currently produce and consume food are some of the biggest drivers of the twin climate and nature crisis we face today. 

“We need an independent body – a Food Commission – to navigate our progress towards a better, more integrated food system if we are to meet the needs of people in a nature and climate-friendly way.”

The letter signatories call for the commission to be established under the Good Food Nation Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, describing this measure as necessary to provide scrutiny and to guide progress across all relevant government portfolios. 

The letter comes just a week after a damning report by the Scottish Food Coalition, exposing the broken state of Scotland’s food system; and weeks before the Good Food Nation Bill is voted on by Parliament. 

The amendment establishing a Food Commission was lodged during Committee discussions last week, and had support from Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Tilly Robinson-Miles, impact and policy officer at older people’s charity Food Train, said: “Scotland cannot afford for the Good Food Nation Bill to become a missed opportunity. 

“An independent food commission would play a critical part in driving forward the change needed - to make the nation a world-leader in how it addresses issues around food.

“Food is a basic human right. Yet far too many of our older people become malnourished - putting significant strain on our health system - because the right to food is not embedded within our social care system. 

“A new commission would help us put right this terrible wrong, tackling health inequalities and supply insecurities while also reducing waste and helping our environment. The time for this to happen is now.”