Wednesday the House Agriculture Committee held a public hearing to review the dietary guideline recommendations brought forward by an advisory committee. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Philip Ellis is pleased Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell who attended the hearing ensured the guidelines won’t go beyond the scope of what the advisory committee was charged with.

He is also pleased the Ag Committee and Secretaries are taking into account concerns expressed by his group and are hopeful they’ll move forward with reasonable guidelines by the end of the year.

Ellis says that cattlemen have made significant investments in nutrition research to understand beef’s role in a healthy diet. He’s pleased lawmakers and the Secretaries are including that in the information they’re considering as the guidelines are finalized.