The Royal Welsh Show will amongst other things be a showcase for quality, fresh, locally sourced Welsh food produce.

Many visitors to the show will get the chance to sample top quality Welsh products. But all too often much of the food we buy in shops and supermarkets will actually have been produced many thousands of miles away. Our food is being transported over very long distances, only because some ingredients or processing industries are a bit cheaper. Excessive transportation accounts for much of the additives and conservation agents in our food and much of the food quality gets lost along the way.

At the same time the number of overweight and clinically obese people in Wales is rising to worrying levels with obesity amongst children a particular concern. Indeed, estimates for 2003/04 suggested that some 60 per cent of men and 48 per cent of women in Wales were either overweight or obese.

There is no single, easy solution to this problem. We need to improve education and provide better specialist medical services as my colleague Dai Lloyd pointed out in the National Assembly recently. But we also need to encourage people to adopt a healthier diet, and make sure that local food production gets the support it needs and is affordable.

I have been working in the European Parliament to secure better EU rules that would encourage local authorities and the public sector to source food locally and to provide EU support for initiatives such as local farmers markets.

But we also need action at a local and national level and the Welsh Assembly Government could do far more to encourage the public sector in Wales to use quality, locally produced and sourced food.

There is also far more to be done to get affordable local food to people. The producers are there but not enough is being done to get the food in the shops and market it at a price that people can pay.

Action in this field would not only promote a healthier diet, improving people's health, but it would also be a major boost to the Welsh food industry which has not had the support it deserves.

I was delighted earlier this year to be able to speak at a special 'Welsh farmhouse breakfast' organised by the FUW in the European Parliament in Brussels to showcase quality Welsh produce.

European politicians and officials were able to sample a Welsh breakfast with locally produced food including cheese from Cenarth; Yoghurt from Llaeth y Llan in Denbigh; butter from South Caernarfon Creamery; pork sausages from Welshpool, and bacon from Bethesda.

It was a timely reminder that this is an industry with great scope for development if the right help and assistance is on offer.

And with the European agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel visiting the show on Monday it will be a great opportunity for her to see and taste the very best of Welsh produce.

This is a very important subject and I would welcome people's views. Please e-mail me at jill.evans@europarl.europa.eu or even better, if you're at the Royal Welsh visit the Plaid Cymru stand.