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Food & Nutrition
2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Hosts Third Public Meeting
This week, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) concluded its third public meeting in a process to review the science and inform the development of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. During the meeting, the Committee heard public comments for the first time in the DGAC process, including themes favoring the promotion of plant-based foods, a push to reduce saturated fat sources such as red/processed meat and dairy, and the need to prioritize cultural and lifestyle factors with continued incorporation of a health equity lens throughout the process. The Committee members and subcommittees also presented their progress since the second meeting in May, including presentations on new and updated research protocols, draft conclusions gathered from systematic reviews underway, and a new process for evidence scans to review research outside of the systematic reviews. The next public meeting will be held on January 25, 2024.
Senators Request Information on FDA Human Foods Program Reorganization
Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Ted Budd (R-NC) sent a letter to FDA requesting that the agency provide more information and details on its reorganization of the Human Foods Program for Congress to further assess FDA’s planned reorganization. In the letter, Senators requested that FDA address several aspects in the forthcoming reorganization, including 1) a clear vision and strategic goals for the program, 2) concrete metrics to measure whether the program is achieving its goals, 3) greater detail on how the Office of Critical Foods will operate and ensure the safety of critical foods like infant formula and medical foods, and 4) more information on efforts to improve interagency coordination on food safety activities.
Tufts University to Host Webinar to Launch New Food is Medicine Institute Initiative
Tufts University is hosting a webinar to launch its cross-university Food is Medicine Institute (FIMI), an initiative aiming to bring together research, training, patient services, policy development, and community engagement in the food is medicine field, on October 18, 2023, from 1-3 p.m. EST. FIMI was first announced in June 2023, in which Dariush Mozaffarian, former Dean at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, will direct the initiative to advance the food is medicine movement. This launch event will feature USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Secretary Dan Glickman, Senator Ed Markey, Senator Bill Frist, among others.
Montgomery County, MD to Require Healthy Meal Requirements in Restaurants
As part of a bill passed in March 2022, Montgomery County, Maryland, will now require any restaurant that offers a children’s meal to serve at least one “healthy” children’s meal. Effective September 15, 2023, the bill’s second phase-in mandates that all food service facilities offer a children’s meal that meets nutrition standards for calories, sodium, total sugars, total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat. Additionally, the meal must include two or more of the following food components: 1) unfried fruit or unfried vegetables, 2) whole grains, and 3) lean protein. The first phase-in of the bill to require any restaurant to offer default beverage options went into effect in March 2023. This law makes Montgomery County the first jurisdiction in the country to require restaurants with children’s menus to offer at least one “healthy” meal that meets its specified nutrition standards.
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