Wisconsin Republicans sent a letter to two federal agencies Monday voicing their frustration with the relegated role of beef in the the agencies’ new recommendations to accompany the food pyramid.
The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture release new dietary guidelines for Americans every five years and recently published the “Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee” earlier this spring.
The letter to the agencies, written by U.S. Reps. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., and Reid Ribble, R-Wis., described lean meats as a “staple of the American diet.”
“The new food pyramid downplays, to the point of making it merely a footnote, the role of lean meats and processed meats in its recommendations for a healthy and balanced diet,” Duffy and Ribble said in the letter.
In a separate press release, titled “Where’s the beef?,” Ribble spoke out against the dietary recommendation as potentially dangerous to the entire farming industry.
“Politically or ideologically-motivated changes not only negatively affects families, but can also throw whole industries into chaos, irresponsibly harming the farmers and processors who feed America,” Ribble said in the release.
Duffy, who called the report “misguided,” accused the Obama administration of “overstepping their bounds,” and voiced concern for American consumers.
