No Beef in USDA Contest

Michelle Obama and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Let’s Move! campaign’s healthy school lunches contest has elicited a negative response from the beef industry due to its exclusion of meat as a recipe category. Kristina Butts of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Industry said in Beef Magazine that the contest’s exclusion of meat “continues to add to the misconception that meat is over consumed in the US.” Writer Melanie Warner responded on CBS that the meat industry is threatened by the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s suggestions for Americans to eat more plant-based options, the popularity of Meatless Mondays, and the exposure vegetarianism has gained through Bill Clinton’s recent switch to a mostly vegan diet.