In Case You Missed It- Vilsack Addresses The 'Beef' About Dietary Guidelines

Feb 06, 2015

Keeping beef on America's plate was a hot topic during a recent meeting with U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. The head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture took questions from the crowd during the celebration of the one-year enactment of the Farm Bill on Friday at Redlands Community College. Richard Gebart, who serves as the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association President and Vice Chairman of the Oklahoma Beef Council voiced his concerns that the nation's dietary guidelines could remove beef from its recommendations.

Vilsack responded by providing background on the situation. The nation's dietary guidelines are established by two government agencies - the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. Vilsack said every five years the dietary guidelines are rewritten and every five years the responsibility for leading the effort is reversed. In 2010, USDA was in charge of the operation, so this time around HHS is leading. Vilsack said the process starts with a group of experts meeting over a period of a couple of years as they discuss a variety of issues and make a "set of recommendations".

"I am emphasizing the word 'recommendations' for a reason," Vilsack said. "Because it doesn't necessarily mean that is what the guideline will be or should be. It is what this group believes, ought to be."

Vilsack said he is monitoring the situation and he made it clear he is not particularly happy about several of the recommendations. At this juncture, he thinks some people in the beef community are overreacting. He has already told the dietary guideline committee that has has concerns and some reservations scientifically about the guidelines.

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