Critics say USDA, HHS bow to lobbyists on food pyramid

As regulators work to overhaul the government-issued guidelines that Americans use to shape their diets, some critics say Congress is not doing enough to ensure that the guidelines are based on science rather than lobbying.

Every five years, the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments rewrite the official "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," the set of recommendations for healthy eating, which includes the familiar food pyramid.

Food lobbies representing large commodities -- such as beef and sugar -- swarm around the process, as a prime spot on the pyramid can be a potent marketing tool. And the pyramid is the basis for a host of government food programs, including school lunches.

Some critics charge that the Agriculture Department -- whose mission includes promotion of food products -- is too cozy with the food industry to be objective enough to urge Americans to cut back on certain kinds of food. This year, consumer advocates are raising concerns about how the guidelines are influenced, but those concerns have fallen on deaf ears on the Capitol Hill, they say.

"Congress should move the whole process to the National Academies of Science," said Michael Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It would be a valuable change and it would help de-politicize the development of the data and general guidelines. But my sense is that food interests are so powerful in Congress, that's been opposed."

Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., held a hearing last year at which he suggested that structural changes are needed to avoid conflicts. "Putting the USDA in charge of dietary advice is in some respects like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse," Fitzgerald said.

But even holding that hearing was no easy feat. Fitzgerald had to hold it in the subcommittee he chairs in the Commerce Committee instead of the Agriculture Committee subcommittee he also chairs because the Agriculture Department and food companies had pressured Agriculture Committee not to hold the hearing.

Those watching the drafting of the guidelines say Congress remains cowed by powerful food interests. Concern for home-state farmers and agribusinesses may prevent lawmakers from taking a tough look at the process of creating the dietary guidelines or from taking other steps to curb rising obesity levels, they say.

American Obesity Association Director Morgan Downey said revamping the dietary guidelines receives little attention in Congress because there are no go-to lawmakers on obesity issues.

"No one has been willing to really exercise leadership on these issues," he said. Without a few key members willing to devote staff time and effort, little will change, he added.

Furthermore, with Fitzgerald set to retire after this year, it is uncertain whether other lawmakers will take up his cause. Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Richard Durbin of Illinois were co-sponsors of a bill Fitzgerald wrote that assigns responsibility for writing the dietary guidelines to the NAS. But without the ability to call hearings or without seats on the Agriculture Committee, those Democrats may not be able to thrust the issue into the spotlight.

The public had its chance to weigh in Tuesday on the process as part of a public hearing that Agriculture and HHS held on the proposed guidelines.

Others watching the process say Congress could take less drastic steps to improve the guidelines, such as devoting more attention and funding to publicize them once they are drafted.

"There may be small controversies along the way, but the real problem with the guidelines is that no one sees them," said Katherine Tallmadge, the national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "Think of the advertising budget of McDonald's. How can we compete with that?"