Power to the Plate: Food Subsidies Should Reflect New USDA
Dietary Advice This morning, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
released the long-awaited replacement for the Food Pyramid. The
new MyPlate icon is a plate, somewhat similar to the Power Plate
developed and released by PCRM more than a year ago. The USDA’s
new plate diagram should have a huge impact on the debate over
the massive subsidies for unhealthy foods distributed under the
Farm Bill, which are now being debated in Congress. In some
ways, the new USDA plate is a step forward from MyPyramid, the
vague and confusing federal nutrition diagram introduced in
2005. The USDA’s plate, for example, clearly recommends that
Americans fill half their plates with fruits and vegetables.
PCRM has been calling for such straightforward recommendations
for many years. Earlier this year, PCRM sued the USDA over
confusing language in the new Dietary Guidelines. We also urged
the government to consider replacing MyPyramid with the Power
Plate, a simple, colorful gr