The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services announced this week that the first meeting of the newly appointed 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will be held March 28-29 at USDA offices in Washington, D.C. The public comment period for updates to the Dietary Guidelines also opened this week and will remain open until early 2020.

The committee members have expertise in topics that the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will address, such as dietary patterns, added sugars, saturated fat, obesity, chronic disease, pregnancy and early childhood. The members will review the scientific evidence on these topics and provide a report to the USDA and HHS that will help to inform the departments’ decisions, along with public and agency comments, on updates or changes.

IDFA will be monitoring the committee’s progress and working with its Nutrition Working Group to develop comments to submit for consideration. The guidelines are important because they form the basis for federal nutrition programs, such as the school meal programs, and for official governmental nutrition education messages.

For more information, contact Michelle Matto, IDFA’s consultant on nutrition and labeling, at amfoodnutrition@gmail.com.