A government advisory committee will soon issue its recommendations for the 2015 dietary guidelines to the federal agencies. And this year, it’s weighing environmental concerns along with nutritional needs.
“You’re going to have kids eating what’s best for the environment, not what’s best for them,” says @DarenBakst
The U.S. Department of Agriculture calls these guidelines the “cornerstone of federal nutrition policy and nutrition education activities.” But critics say that the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has misplaced priorities by including environmental factors.
According to the Washington Post, the panel has advised that U.S. consumers should consume less meat because plant-based diets are “associated with lesser environmental impact than is the current average U.S. diet.”
Chairwoman Barbara Millen said at the committee’s first meeting its purpose was to “make recommendations for a healthy, ecologically responsible diet.”
The guidelines impact a significant number of federal food programs. The standards of some of these programs—such as the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act—must be made consistent with the latest dietary guidelines.
Critics are concerned that in the final version of the guidelines, the nutritional needs of Americans will be overlooked in an effort to be environmentally friendly.
Daren Bakst, a research fellow in agricultural policy at The Heritage Foundation, called the committee’s recommendations “dangerous.”
“If this environmental hijacking of the guidelines is left unaddressed,” Bakst said, “the nutritional health of children, and the public generally, could be weighed against the political agenda of environmental special interests.”
Bakst warned that “the dietary guidelines may soon be based on global warming as much as human nutrition.”
“Dietary guidelines should be based on nutrition, based on what’s healthy for people to eat,” he said. “What happens when environmental factors comes into conflict with nutritional factors? Who wins out? You’re going to have kids eating what’s best for the environment, not what’s best for them.”
Janet Riley, senior vice president of public affairs at the North American Meat Institute, told the Washington Post a change in guidelines could make a “huge impact” on what Americans eat.
“The federal feeding programs are significantly impacted by the federal dietary guidelines,” she said. The group has argued the advisory panel shouldn’t consider sustainability because “it is not within the committee’s expertise.”
The committee—while operating in an advisory role—is still influential in determining what the final guidelines will be. The final version of the 2015 guidelines is expected later this year.
