The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday, challenging the development process behind updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The nonprofit organization, which advocates plant-based nutrition, contends that the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated federal law governing how advisory committees must operate.
According to the complaint, federal agencies assembled a panel of researchers selected behind closed doors, most of whom maintained financial relationships with beef, dairy, egg, and related industries. The panel was given less than three months to complete a scientific review that formed the basis for the new guidelines. The lawsuit argues that this process allowed meat and dairy interests to unduly influence the final recommendations.
The updated guidelines, released in January, introduced significant changes to prior recommendations. These included promotion of foods high in saturated fats such as beef, whole milk, cheese, and eggs, as well as reductions in recommended fruit and vegetable servings and elimination of daily alcohol intake limits. The guidance also deviated substantially from recommendations made by a separate 20-member scientific advisory committee that had spent nearly two years reviewing nutrition research under the previous administration and had recommended limiting red meat and saturated fat consumption.
The lawsuit seeks a court order to withdraw the current guidelines and require federal agencies to develop replacement guidance that adheres to procedures mandated by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The public did not learn details about the Trump administration panel’s formation or methodology until a government website document was released on the same day the new guidelines became public.
The Physicians Committee contends the process violated federal law by disregarding findings from the earlier advisory committee and circumventing established transparency requirements.
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