The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) held its first public meeting last week, starting a new phase in the development of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. A significant emphasis was placed on transparency of the process, including monthly progress updates to be posted on dietaryguidelines.gov.

This was the first of five scheduled public meetings of the DGAC over the next year. USDA and Department of Health and Human Services have asked that the DGAC submit their report with recommendations by May 2020. This timeline will help the agencies to release the final Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the end of 2020.

The agenda for this first meeting was primarily administrative and included the swearing in of committee members and explanations of the data analysis methods that will be available to help support the committee’s recommendations. Committee members also received assignments to subcommittees that will consider the questions and topics previously identified for deliberation.

The next public meeting of the DGAC will be held on July 10-11, 2019, in Washington, D.C. Oral public comments will be scheduled at this meeting, and written comments to the DGAC will be accepted throughout the process.

Members who are interested in providing input on IDFA’s comments to the DGAC may contact Michelle Matto, IDFA consultant on nutrition and labeling, at amfoodnutrition@gmail.com.