Blog: The Daily Intake
HHS and USDA Face New Legal Challenge Over 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines
- On August 19, 2026, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to have the recently issued Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 withdrawn.
- PCRM alleges that HHS and USDA improperly departed from the traditional Dietary Guidelines development process by relying on a group of outside reviewers that was assembled without the transparency and public oversight required under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). According to the complaint, this group, which PCRM refers to as a “Secret Panel,” included individuals with ties to the meat, dairy, and diet industries and played a significant role in developing The Scientific Foundation for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, a report that allegedly diverged from the findings of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s scientific review.
- The lawsuit claims that the agencies violated FACA and the Administrative Procedure Act by relying on recommendations developed outside the public advisory committee process. PCRM is asking the court to order HHS and USDA to withdraw the current Dietary Guidelines, issue new guidelines through a FACA-compliant process, and disclose documents relied upon by the reviewers.
- This lawsuit continues PCRM’s longstanding scrutiny of the Dietary Guidelines process. The organization has challenged several prior editions of the Guidelines and earlier this year petitioned the Offices of Inspector General at HHS and USDA to withdraw the 2025-2030 Guidelines, citing alleged industry influence.
- Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor developments related to the Dietary Guidelines and other challenges to Agency actions.