Implementing Dietary Goals and Guidelines

Dietary guidelines issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) form the basis for nutrition policy in Federal food, education, and information programs (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010). This article presents alternative policy options regarding the implementation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and the consequences of those policies. It defines the current status of DGA policy, identifies key stakeholders, presents the economic considerations which influence what people eat, and analyzes a set of policy options and their potential consequences for each stakeholder group. This approach follows the public policy education methodology (PPE) for policy options and consequences suggested by Knutson, Sanders, and Armbruster (2012).