[fullwidth background_color=”” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding_top=”20″ padding_bottom=”20″ padding_left=”0″ padding_right=”0″ hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”1″ content_align=”left” style_type=”underline solid” sep_color=”#000000″ margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]House Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday offers little information about the specifics of the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans[/title][fusion_text]Wednesday, October 7th 2015
A House Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday offered little information about the specifics of the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans, but did provide new information on topics that won’t be addressed in the document that will set U.S. food policy for the next five years. The only witnesses at the hearing were Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, who lead the agencies that will write the final version of the 2015 guidelines and who were closely questioned about how the document, which is revised every five years, is being put together. The process to draft the 2015 guidelines began in 2012 with the solicitation of nominations for the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) that is charged with providing recommendations to the Cabinet secretaries. Since then, there has been an unparalleled interest in the development process from a wide range of stakeholders. As the process played out, some began to raise concerns about a number of issues like the role of red meat in a healthy diet and whether the DGAC’s scope extended to issues like sustainability and a potential tax on sugar content. Some Republican lawmakers delved into the process as a whole, with questions about which studies were relied upon as the recommendations were formulated, the inner operations of the DGAC and how the guidelines are used in federal food policy. While this may be setting the stage for potential changes to the Dietary Guidelines process, Vilsack defended the procedures as necessary and said they should not be weakened. USDA and HHS are currently reviewing public input on the guidelines after a record 29,000 comments were submitted. It is estimated that about 8,000 of those were unique comments with the rest being form letters distributed by organizations but filed by individuals.
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