A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has stated an advisory committee has changed its mind and will not recommend the agency consider the environmental impact of food production in its dietary guidelines.
Past reports from the Associated Press (AP) have said Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) of the USDA would include environmental impacts, but a new interview with a USDA official conducted by VICE News suggests otherwise.
"The DGAC discussed the topic of sustainable diets, and this discussion will be included in its final report," Eve Essery Stoody, a nutritionist with the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, told VICE News. "However, the DGAC's food-based recommendations are based on literature examining the relationship between diet and health, as well as a consideration of what foods are needed to meet nutrient need."
New dietary guidelines are established by the USDA every five years as part of the federal government's MyPlate nutritional program, which replaced the iconic food pyramid back in 2010, VICE reported. The United Nations has recommended animal health and feed efficiency improvements are crucial in global health and sustainability.
"Those are the two areas where we have focused our efforts for a number of years," Daren Williams, executive director of communications for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told VICE News. "We're widely considered to be the best in the world in both."
Despite pressure from multiple environmental organizations the agency will not be considering environmental impacts in its upcoming recommendation revision.
"The interpretation that the DGAC recommendations will be based on environmental impact is incorrect," Stoody told VICE News. "The committee did look at sustainable diets, but this review and the topic of environmental impact has not informed their recommendations for the Dietary Guidelines."
