Will Red Meat, Saturated Fat Be Encouraged in the Upcoming Dietary Guidelines?
At the Agriculture Outlook Forum last week in Kansas City, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled a suite of actions to support American farmers – apparently including a reversal on saturated fats and the promotion of meat in the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Among a handful of initiatives aimed at supporting farmers of all types, she apparently promised the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans would encourage beef, protein and whole milk consumption, according to both the Kansas Reflector news organization and Civil Eats. Those recommendations would run counter to advice in the past several Dietary Guidelines.
She also hinted that saturated fats would not be discouraged in the upcoming Dietary Guidelines – although neither news organization provided her direct quotes on either subject.
USDA, FDA and the Dept. of Health & Human Services all have a hand in revising the guidelines every five years. In addition to hopefully positively influencing Americans’ eating habits, the guidelines help shape federal nutrition and assistance programs. The revision is due this year, although there have been indications it will be delayed.
Rollins did note USDA and the Dept. of Justice signed a Memorandum of Understanding to investigate why input costs —such as feed, fertilizer, fuel, seed, equipment, and other essential goods — as well as the price of beef have risen in recent years.
“The Antitrust Division of DOJ will work hand in hand with USDA — effective immediately — to take a hard look and scrutinize competitive conditions in the agricultural marketplace, including antitrust enforcement that promotes free market competition,” said the official USDA news announcement of her speech.
“The cost of doing business for farmers and ranchers increased drastically, and commodity prices slumped,” the USDA announcement quoted her. “The Trump Administration is holding these companies accountable and will investigate why input prices have not come back down.”
About the Author
Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.