§5312 Functions of Secretaries

Summary

Require the Secretaries, with help from the Board, to set goals and run a coordinated national nutrition monitoring program. They must list the actions and agencies responsible, update and include the Joint Implementation Plan for a Comprehensive National Nutrition Monitoring System, and make sure the program and the related plan under section 5313 are carried out on time. The program must include a competitive research grants program (when funds are available) to help develop uniform, cost‑effective standards and measures for nutrition and diet, and a grants program to help State and local governments build and use monitoring and surveillance capacity to improve nutrition services. Each year the program must include an interagency budget, promote cooperation among federal, state, local, private, scientific, health, and public groups, use cost‑recovery methods, and charge fees for publications (using that money for the program). Fees charged to educational or nonprofit groups cannot exceed the program’s actual costs. By January 15 of every other year, starting January 15 after October 22, 1990, the Secretaries must send a report to the President for Congress. The report must evaluate progress, summarize results from the work under section 5313, discuss policy implications and future priorities based on scientific reports, include the Council’s annual reports in full, and add an executive summary of the most recent scientific report. The Secretaries must also hire a scientific body to interpret data and publish a national report on diet, nutrition, health, and food quality every two years, or, if data are insufficient, tell Congress and publish at least once every five years.