The Director of Food Policy with the National Pork Producers Council says the latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recognises meat as nutritious and what Americans actually should be prioritizing at every meal.
The latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was introduced in January.
The guidelines serve as the official blueprint for federal nutrition policies, education programs, and food assistance initiatives. Dr. Ashley Johnson, the Director of Food Policy with the National Pork Producers Council, on hand earlier this month for World Pork Expo in Des Moines, observes since the 1980s recommendations have tended toward reducing meat consumption and replacing it with plant-based proteins.
Quote-Dr. Ashley Johnson-National Pork Producers Council:
It's actually a very exciting time for the pork sector when it comes to nutrition because meat is back and it is back stronger than ever with the new recommendations from the dietary guidelines for Americans because the pyramid has actually been flipped, literally been flipped where meat is actually on top.
It's being seen as nutritious and what all Americans actually should be prioritizing at every meal. This is a complete different way of thinking because it hasn't been since 1980 that we've actually seen a positive movement with meat. What I mean by that is that for many, many years we've seen this concept of recommendations reducing meat consumption and also replacing it with plant-based proteins.
And animal-based proteins and plant-based proteins are not created equal.
They're not the same. We have the science to back that and a lot of our conversations have been around what does that actually mean because many people just don't understand why it's not an apple-to-apple comparison.
And it's not.
We get so many nutritious things from animal-based proteins such as pork.
With these new recommendations it's so exciting because pork is actually having a moment and we should be celebrating from the mountaintop and get our voices out there because there's so much more work to do from this.
Like I said, it's a big win but there's still more work to be done.
Dr. Johnson notes, the next major policy, the school meals program, will need to reflect the new guidelines so we can expect a huge change in our school system as school meal programs align their nutrition standards with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Source : Farmscape.ca