The Obama administration decided that dietary guidelines weren’t the right vehicle to tackle climate change after all.
Administration officials said recently that it would eliminate a portion of the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans that calls for less meat consumption to lower people’s carbon footprint. The administration had come under heavy scrutiny from conservatives and food industries that the guidelines shouldn’t play climate change politics.
The guidelines for 2015 are still being considered, but the administration doesn’t believe they are “the appropriate vehicle for this important policy conversation about sustainability,” according to a blog post from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
The controversy started when a committee unveiled its draft guidelines in February for a good diet, outlining that Americans need to eat less meat and focus on low-fat dairy, fruits and vegetables to stay healthy. The guidelines would update a 2010 version and be used to govern food choices in federal programs such as school lunches and food stamps.
For the first time ever, the committee also said that environmental impact should be considered in what you eat. The committee said that studies over the past 11 years have shown that consuming meat leads to more greenhouse gas emissions through production, shipping, storage and cooking.
This outraged conservatives and the meat industry said the guidelines should only include nutritional recommendations and not wade into climate change politics.
The federal government must still make a final decision on the guidelines.
