The 2015 Dietary Guidelines will not suggest Americans consider sustainability when making decisions about the food or beverages they consume, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The secretaries say, “There has been some discussion this year about whether we would include the goal of sustainability as a factor in developing dietary guidelines. The final 2015 Guidelines are still being drafted, but because this is a matter of scope, we do not believe that the 2015 DGAs are the appropriate vehicle for this important policy conversation about sustainability.”
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s advisory report recommended sustainability be included in the final report. The livestock and meat industries argued that this was outside of the scope of the nutritional guidelines.
During the House Agriculture Committee’s hearing on Dietary Guidelines, Vilsack said that he would be surprised if the final guidelines didn’t include lean meat. There were over 29,000 public comments filed on the DGAC’s advisory report. The final guidelines are expected to be released in December.
