SIR, – I have good news for Marion MacCormick's Guest View ('Not oats so simple' in a recent edition) when she questioned why there was not an oat drink made in Scotland, with Scottish oats.

Brose is a 100% Scottish oat drink that has been made in East Linton since 2019. Brose oat drink is every bit as good as anything the Swedes can produce, some say it is even better, And, of course, the oats are grown in the fertile soils of East Lothian and Fife with very low inputs and almost within sight of the factory.

I had the good fortune to be asked to provide the agronomy for Brose oats and I can assure customers their oat drinks, Barista-style or Original is 100% glyphosate free. This is not always the case with other brands and some, for reasons that are beyond me, choose to buy oats that contain glyphosate.

This is not acceptable and risks damaging the Scottish brand. What mother would knowingly buy any food that contains the herbicide glyphosate? The food standards agencies in New Zealand and Australia have a zero tolerance for glyphosate in foods, so why do we allow this in the UK?

In Scotland, we grow the best milling oats, the best malting barley and we have the best dairy farms. I grew up helping in the dairy when we had a herd of Ayrshire cows and I was also one of the lucky generations who enjoyed free school milk.

However, times change and the move to plant-based drinks is global and growing every year. According to Mintel: “Oat milk has quickly become the plant-based milk of choice.”

In the UK, sales grew from £74m in 2019 to £146m in 2020 overtaking almond milk for the first time. Total plant-based milk sales reached £394m, compared to dairy milk sales of £3.2bn in 2020.

This gives a huge opportunity to Scottish farmers and entrepreneurs to replace Swedish oats with Scottish oats. There is a growing demand for locally-produced food that has a low carbon footprint and the least food miles.

I note that Barrs Irn Bru acquired the Moma oat brand for an undisclosed sum. How is this going to work, though? An iconic Scottish brand buying an oat drink that is 100% English using only English oats?

Let’s hope Barrs build a new oat drink factory in Scotland and use 100% Scottish oats. Now is the time to fly the flag for 'Scotland the Brand' and we need to put pressure on brands such as Scott’s Porage Oats to only use Scottish oats and why on earth do some Islay distilleries ship in malting barley from Norfolk? Why does the Famous Grouse choose to import French maize when Scottish wheat has the provenance consumers expect?

The Scottish Government must promote Scottish produce in iconic Scottish brands and amend labelling law in such a way that the source nation of all products is clearly listed.

It's time to call time on those rascals that profit from the Scottish brand but hide the fact they don’t always use 100% Scottish ingredients

Gordon Rennie, St Monans, Fife.