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Title 7, AgricultureRelease 119-110

§3171 Congressional Findings and Declaration of Policy

Title 7 › CHAPTER 64 — AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, EXTENSION, AND TEACHING › SUBCHAPTER IV — NATIONAL FOOD AND HUMAN NUTRITION RESEARCH AND EXTENSION PROGRAM › § 3171

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States requires the Department of Agriculture to study human nutrition and the nutrient value of foods and to run nutrition education programs. Congress says this because diet affects many leading causes of death, better nutrition helps prevent disease, we need more research on long-term diet effects, we do not fully know exact nutrient needs or how needs differ for groups (infants, children, adolescents, elderly men and women, and pregnant women), and we need solid data on food safety, food enrichment, and ways to encourage healthier eating.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §3171

Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Findings
Congress finds that there is increasing evidence of a relationship between diet and many of the leading causes of death in the United States: that improved nutrition is an integral component of preventive health care; that there is a serious need for research on the chronic effects of diet on degenerative diseases and related disorders; that nutrition and health considerations are important to United States agricultural policy; that there is insufficient knowledge concerning precise human nutritional requirements, the interaction of the various nutritional constituents of food, and differences in nutritional requirements among different population groups such as infants, children, adolescents, elderly men and women, and pregnant women; and that there is a critical need for objective data concerning food safety, the potential of food enrichment, and means to encourage better nutritional practices.
(b)Declaration of policy
It is declared to be the policy of the United States that the Department of Agriculture conduct research in the fields of human nutrition and the nutritive value of foods and conduct human nutrition education activities, as provided in this subchapter.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1977, see section 1901 of Pub. L. 95–113, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1977 Amendment note under section 1307 of this title. Nutrition Information and Awareness Pilot Program Pub. L. 107–171, title IV, § 4403,
May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 334, as amended by Pub. L. 110–234, title IV, § 4406(c)(2),
May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1142; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title IV, § 4406(c)(2),
June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 1903, directed the Secretary of Agriculture to establish, in not more than 5 States, for a period not to exceed 4 years for each participating State, a pilot program to increase the domestic consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 113–79, title IV, § 4210, Feb. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 830.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 3171

Title 7, Agriculture

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110