Livestock industry upset with dietary recommendations

A group of the nation's most important nutritionists want sustainable farming practices to influence what Americans eat -- a recommendation that, if adopted, could cut into beef consumption.

Critics, including the North Dakota State University professor of livestock stewardship and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association's executive director of human nutrition research, say the nutritionists should stick to what they know and leave production agriculture and environmental science to others.

"When policy precedes science, you end up with recommendations that don't make a whole lot of sense," says Gerald Stokka, NDSU livestock stewardship professor.

Shalene McNeill, the beef association official and a registered dietitian herself, says "sustainability is outside the scope and purview" of the dietary recommendation committee.

She also points to "inconsistencies" in the recommendations.

New approach

Last month, the federal 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee issued its recommendations on what Americans should be eating. The proposal, developed by an advisory panel of experts from universities and nutrition organizations across the nation, sets nutritional standards for state and federal programs such as school lunches, food stamps and programs benefiting children and pregnant women.

It's the first such update of federal food policy in five years.

The new recommendations, for the first time, take food production sustainability into account. The report defines sustainable diets as "a pattern of eating that promotes health and well-being and provides food security for the present population while sustaining human and natural resources for future generations." It praises the "Mediterranean diet as an example of a sustainable diet due to its emphasis on biodiversity and smaller meat portions."

The recommendations also call for Americans to consume diets that are "lower in red and processed meats," a change from previous guidelines that encouraged people to eat lean beef.

'40 acres and a mule'

The U.S. beef industry is upset by the recommendations.

Stokka says the nutritionists don't recognize that U.S. cattle production primarily utilizes land unsuitable for cropping.

"There's no other way to get production from that system," he says.

Nor do the nutritionists recognize that livestock production can have positive benefits for the environment, he says.

At least part of the problem is that "sustainability becomes a buzzword. People really don't know what it means," Stokka says.

Americans in general are increasingly removed from production ag, and images of century-old farming practices win out over modern realities, he says.

"Sustainability becomes 40 acres and a mule, or 40 acres and a mule and some chickens," Stokka says. "Some people want to travel back in time, to how agriculture was 100 years ago. But if you do that, food prices would have to double at least."

Before taking his current position, Stokka served as a rural vet, a university professor and a member of the Pfizer Animal Health veterinary operations team. He's talked with ranchers, consumers and livestock industry officials around the world.

U.S. livestock producers already value sustainability in how they treat their land, their animals and the health of the consumers they serve, he says.

"Sustainability is all about stewardship," Stokka says.

McNeill, who has a doctorate in nutrition, says environmental science is "so complex and so new" that drawing conclusions about sustainability is risky at best.

Like Stokka, she says the nutritional committee's recommendation fails to consider the environmental benefits of cattle production.

McNeill says the nutritional committee recommends eating more seafood, while also acknowledging that seafood production is environmentally sensitive.

That's inconsistent with how beef is treated, she says.

She also argues against the recommendation to eat less red meat.

Lean meat is healthy and an important source of protein and other nutrients, McNeill says.

Public input

The U.S. Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will consider the report's recommendations, along with public comments and input from other federal agencies, as they determine the Dietary Guidelines for America, 2015, to be released later this year.

USDA encourages the public to view the report and provide written comments at www.DietaryGuidelines.gov .

McNeill says the beef association also encourages consumers to provide comments.