Government authorities are prepping the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and recently came out saying the 2015 DGA will not include the goal of sustainability. This statement came out after there were studies showing that diets rich in plant-based foods promote a healthier lifestyle and are more sustainable.
You would think that would mean the government would be on board with sustainable eating, right? Wrong. The government officials who develop the DGA are more concerned with what is going to be more nourishing in the long run. Janet Riley of the North American Meat Institute said, “If you compare 10 pounds of apples and 10 pounds of meat, the meat surely has the larger carbon footprint, but it also delivers more nutrition, it nourishes more people longer.”
The excuse for not including sustainability as a goal of the 2015 DGA is that there needs to be more data and more experts at the table that can share how sustainable eating is more nourishing because the officials who develop the DGA are not experts on this. You can bet meat industry personnel are very happy with the 2015 DGA, but sustainability experts are not. How can we ensure that sustainable eating will make it into the 2020 DGA?
Want to learn more? Check out this article from WBEZ 91.5: New dietary guidelines will not include sustainability goal