A dietary health committee from the Biden-Harris administration is poised to issue guidelines for people in the United States recommending that plant-based proteins supplant animal-based proteins, such as beef, chicken, and eggs.
The recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which are reevaluated every five years, are slated to arrive by the end of the year after the 2024 election. In the meantime, though, the plan to downgrade animal-based proteins could hurt Vice President Kamala Harris’s chances with swing state voters in farming communities.
Although the panel’s final report is not expected until late December, the committee’s preliminary directive on protein was announced earlier this month during a more than five-hour meeting hosted by the National Institutes of Health.
During the meeting, the panel strongly supported downgrading meat, poultry, and eggs as primary protein and elevating beans, peas, and lentils out of the vegetable category of the food groups.
The recommendations, which would be in effect until 2030, come as environmentalists argue that industrialized meat and poultry production, particularly the cattle industry, is exacerbating climate change and that switching to plant-based protein would be more sustainable.
DGAC, a 20-member panel assembled every five years by the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, has been issuing diet recommendations since the 1980s, with the first congressionally mandated dietary guidelines report issued in 1995.
One of the goals of the 2025 dietary guidelines, set by the Biden-Harris administration in 2022, is “to reflect the racial, ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity of the U.S.”
During the public meeting last week, committee member and Harvard University professor Deirdre Tobias said protein is facing a “branding crisis” because most people think of meat, poultry, and eggs when contemplating protein.
“If there are more plant sources of proteins in the protein category, that could help overcome that, you know, mislabeling or misnomer or misinformation by having it more prominently,” Tobias said about moving legumes to the protein category.
Response to the proposed change
Opposition to the impending guidelines has been strong from Republican politicians and the cattle industry.
Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) told Food Safety News that the 2025 guidance on protein is an example of “the far Left’s war on your grocery list.”
“Meat is the most efficient way to deliver protein, and potatoes contain basic nutrients like potassium and Vitamin C,” said Flood. “Meat and potatoes underpin our country’s food security.”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has also strongly opposed the push toward plant proteins and criticized the impending 2025 guidelines.
“This recommended swap is so out-of-touch with the average American’s wallet, tastes, and available options at the grocery store,” said the NCBA’s petition against the 2025 guidelines. “Even worse, it can have unintended consequences for the health of Americans.”
Shalene McNeill, executive director of nutrition for NCBA, told the Washington Free Beacon that the move away from beef “completely disregards the body of science and the reality of how beef is doing such an important job in helping meet nutrient gaps.”
Election implications for Rust Belt swing states
The 2025 guidelines will be released after the November election and before the next administration takes over in January. Although the next administration would not affect the report’s results, it could change the weight the Dietary Guidelines have on public health recommendations and federal school lunch requirements.
Announcing the shift away from red meat within a week of the election could have significant implications in key Rust Belt swing states, the economies of which are heavily influenced by agriculture and cattle in particular.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, approximately 1 in 10 jobs in the Keystone State are in the agricultural sector. Agriculture contributes $1 out of every $16 to the commonwealth’s GDP or about $132.5 billion annually.
That includes the 13,176 beef cattle farms in Pennsylvania, which raise over 1.6 million cattle with a sales value of almost $700 million.
Agriculture contributes nearly $105 billion to Wisconsin’s economy annually and accounts for nearly 12% of the state’s jobs. Wisconsin also has more dairy farms than any other state, with 5,500 dairy farms and 1.28 milking cows, according to the state Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
The Wisconsin Beef Council reported that the state’s livestock and meat industries directly employed more than 43,000 people and produced $2.3 billion in cash receipts in 2022.
According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 82 of the state’s 83 counties have dairy and beef cattle ranches, with approximately 1.1 million cattle in total, which generated $642 million in cash receipts in 2018.
Beef and dairy cattle are also the second largest commodity market in Georgia, another pivotal state in the election. There are more than 15,000 cattle producers in Georgia, with a million heads of cattle raised in all 159 counties, generating about $4 billion annually for the state’s economy.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Polling data from The Farm Journal in the lead-up to the 2024 election indicate that farmers believe former President Donald Trump will have a more positive impact than Harris on various aspects of farm policy, ranging from trade disputes to biofuels to crop insurance.
Farming voters in Pennsylvania and Michigan support the former president by a margin of 82% and 81%, respectively, while only 67% of agriculture voters in Wisconsin support Trump.