New federal guidelines for healthy eating announced Thursday delivers a big win to Midwest meat farmers and ranchers.
Initial recommendations by scientific advisors suggested Americans could be more environmentally friendly by cutting back on meat. Although the final recommendations propose teenage and adult men reduce their intake of protein, there is no specific request to eat less meat.
"There’s plenty of evidence that what happened was strong pushback from the meat industry as well as allies in Congress for USDA not to do exactly what the science advisors had said," says David Wallinga, the senior health officer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Meat industry groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association maintain lean meat can be part of a healthy diet.
