Agriculture Secretary Says New Dietary Guidelines Are Coming Later This Year
Rollins said she is working closely with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the rewrite. She said the project is part of a broader push to 'Make America Healthy Again' while boosting domestic farmers.
'Our Secretary Kennedy and I are working on that together as we speak,' she told lawmakers. 'You'll see by the end of this year—hopefully early fall—the new set of dietary guidelines coming out from our two agencies, and I think you will be very, very pleased, it will be very simple. It will speak directly to the American family.'
During more than two hours of testimony, Rollins said the existing 400‑plus‑page draft is too complex for families and too timid in supporting home‑grown food products.
The new document will 'support our local farmers and producers' and ensure that milk and other 'nutrient‑dense' staples remain prominent, she said.
The guidelines, updated every five years, underpin nutrition standards for school meals, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.
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The 421‑page draft released in January by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
Rollins said the Biden-era draft would not be discarded entirely but would be overhauled to fit President Donald Trump's agriculture agenda, which emphasizes farmer profit, reduced regulation, and a 'buy American' approach to federal food spending.
Rollins linked the rewrite to a parallel effort to
Committee members pressed Rollins on disaster assistance, staffing, and avian influenza response. She pledged that portals for a 20 billion‑dollar disaster block‑grant program will open 'by the end of this month' and said USDA's five‑point plan has driven a 56 percent drop in wholesale egg prices since February.
She also said that voluntary staff departures would not close local Farm Service Agency offices and promised to 'rebuild and revivify' the department around farmer needs.
While Democrats questioned the legality of freezing several Biden‑era rural‑development and nutrition programs, Rollins said that her team is realigning spending to match voter priorities. She said trimming some climate and diversity initiatives allows the USDA to focus on food safety, disease control, and trade promotion.
'When farmers prosper, rural America prospers,' she said.
Rollins closed by reiterating that the forthcoming dietary guidelines will reflect the Trump administration's view that good nutrition begins with food grown at home.
Sheramy Tsai contributed to this report.
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