National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Slams Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Recommendations
November 1, 2024 | 2 min to read
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) criticized the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee for suggesting a shift from high-quality proteins, such as beef, to plant-based alternatives like beans and lentils. NCBA Vice President Ethan Lane labeled the recommendations as impractical and disconnected from public needs, while Executive Director Dr. Shalene McNeill highlighted the potential nutrient gaps for vulnerable groups. Despite declining red meat consumption, she pointed out increasing chronic diseases, questioning the scientific basis of the new guidelines aimed at shaping U.S. dietary policy.
WASHINGTON – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) slammed the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s unhinged recommendations that propose replacing high-quality proteins like beef with beans, peas, and lentils.
“The preview meeting of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee this week stands out as one of the most out-of-touch, impractical, and elitist conversations in the history of this process,” said NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “After 22 months of public discussion and lip service to transparency, we are disappointed by the number of chaotic new directions that were proposed at the literal last minute. We would laugh at the suggestion that beans, peas, and lentils are going to replace lean red meat and fill all the nutrient gaps Americans are facing if it weren’t such a dangerous and deceptive idea.”
“We’ve had more than four decades of Dietary Guidelines advice, and during that time red meat consumption has declined, yet obesity and chronic disease is on the rise. 70% of the calories in the U.S. diet are plant based. Now, the committee wants to reduce red meat intake even further, marginalizing the 80% of the population who identify themselves as meat eaters,” said NCBA Executive Director of Nutrition Science and Registered Dietitian Dr. Shalene McNeill. “These recommendations put some of the most vulnerable at risk for nutrient gaps, especially older Americans, adolescent girls, and women of child-bearing age. Beef contributes only 5% of the calories in the American diet, but more than 5% of essential nutrients like potassium, phosphorous, iron, B6, niacin, protein, zinc, choline, and B12. It’s baffling that we are trying to get Americans to cut out red meat when the evidence indicates nutrient deficiencies and chronic disease are increasing as red meat consumption declines. As a registered dietitian and nutrition scientist, I am concerned that basing guidelines on highly academic exercises, hypothetical modeling, and weak science on red meat will not produce relevant or practical guidelines and will not help us achieve healthier diets.”
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is tasked with delivering recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the agencies craft the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.