Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, spoke with the Vice President of Governmental Affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Ethan Lane for an update on the suggested changes to U.S. dietary guidelines that don’t favor beef in American diets or support scientific facts.
“The U.S. dietary guidelines have always been a rusty process,” Lane said. “This was a particularly anti-scientific highly partisan, highly political process.”
He told how the dietary guidelines advisory committee introduced a draft in the eleventh hour of deliberations without peer review, and then doggedly pursued the reduction of meat consumption in the U.S. in favor of beans and lentils regardless of scientific justification.
“What we got was this weird set of recommendations that suggested reducing meat consumption just because, then balance that out by eating more beans, peas, and lentils, but reduce starchy vegetables because of the additional calorie load incurred from the beans, peas, and lentils. The flow chart of what the average American would need in order to follow these guidelines is simply not realistic,” Lane stated. “I think it speaks volumes of how broken this process is.”
He emphasized that while school systems and food procurement programs utilize this type of diet, the majority of Americans do not. “One has to wonder,” he said. “given the fact that President-elect Donald Trump has made clear that he intends to take a very hard look at the role of the Department of Education in the federal government, it brings up the question, ‘What does that mean for a process that has long-since stopped serving Americans’ best interests as a tool for how to feed their families?’”
He assured Americans that NCBA will continue to voice concerns about the process and the general utility of the dietary guidelines.
In the near future, a comment period will be opened regarding the proposed guidelines, and Lane anticipates an extension on it once it becomes open.
“These are just suggestions for the dietary guidelines, and the federal agencies that implement them don’t have to pay attention to what these people have recommended,” Lane pointed out. “They can say, ‘Thank you for your input. We are going to go a different direction here.’ I would imagine that is probably pretty likely.”
Similar guidelines were introduced during Trump’s first administration, and his people weren’t impressed with them, then. It is up to the USDA, along with President-elect Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services, to make the final determination.
Lane said that because Tom Vilsack and company selected the advisory committee, they will be presenting their suggestions to a different administration with a very different viewpoint on food.
“We will see how the Trump administration deals with that, but I would expect a different perspective than what has guided this committee,” Lane commented.
Trump appointees, Robert F. Kennedy from the Health and Human Services, and Brooke Rollins, from the Department of Agriculture, will appoint the committees that will review the suggested changes later in 2025.
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