(a) Comprehensive plan

The Secretaries, with the advice of the Board, shall prepare and implement a comprehensive plan for the coordinated program which shall be designed to—

(1) assess, collate data with respect to, analyze, and report, on a continuous basis, the dietary and nutritional status of the people of the United States, and the trends with respect to such status (dealing with such status and trends separately in the case of preschool and school-age children, pregnant and lactating women, elderly individuals, low-income populations, blacks, Hispanics, and other groups, at the discretion of the Secretaries), the state of the art with respect to nutrition monitoring and related research, future monitoring and related research priorities, and relevant policy implications of findings with respect to such status, trends, and research;

(2) sample representative subsets of identifiable low-income populations (such as Native Americans, Hispanics, or the homeless), and assess, analyze, and report, on a continuous basis, for a representative sample of the low-income population, food and household expenditures, participation in food assistance programs, and periods experienced when nutrition benefits are not sufficient to provide an adequate diet;

(3) sponsor or conduct research necessary to develop uniform indicators, standards, methodologies, technologies, and procedures for conducting and reporting nutrition monitoring and surveillance;

(4) develop and keep updated a national dietary and nutritional status data bank, a nutrient data bank, and other data resources as required;

(5) assist State and local government agencies in developing procedures and networks for nutrition monitoring and surveillance; and

(6) focus the nutrition monitoring activities of Federal agencies.

(b) Components of plan

The comprehensive plan, at a minimum, shall include components to—

(1) maintain and coordinate the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS);

(2) provide, by 1991, for the continuous collection, processing, and analysis of nutritional and dietary status data through stratified probability samples of the people of the United States designed to permit statistically reliable estimates of high-risk groups and geographic areas, and to permit accelerated data analysis (including annual analysis, as appropriate);

(3) maintain and enhance other Federal nutrition monitoring efforts such as the Centers for Disease Control Nutrition Surveillance Program and the Food and Drug Administration Total Diet Study, and, to the extent possible, coordinate such efforts with the surveys described in paragraphs (1) and (2);

(4) incorporate, in survey design, military and (where appropriate) institutionalized populations;

(5) complete the analysis and interpretation of the data sets from the surveys described in paragraph (1) collected prior to 1984 within the first year of the comprehensive plan;

(6) improve the methodologies and technologies, including those suitable for use by States and localities, available for the assessment of nutritional and dietary status and trends;

(7) develop uniform standards and indicators for the assessment and monitoring of nutritional and dietary status, for relating food consumption patterns to nutritional and health status, and for use in the evaluation of Federal food and nutrition intervention programs;

(8) establish national baseline data and procedures for nutrition monitoring;

(9) provide scientific and technical assistance, training, and consultation to State and local governments for the purpose of—

(A) obtaining dietary and nutrition status data;

(B) developing related data bases; and

(C) promoting the development of regional, State, and local data collection services to become an integral component of a national nutritional status network;

(10) establish mechanisms to identify the needs of users of nutrition monitoring data and to encourage the private sector and the academic community to participate in the development and implementation of the comprehensive plan and contribute relevant data from non-Federal sources to promote the development of a national nutritional status network;

(11) compile an inventory of Federal, State, and nongovernment activities related to nutrition monitoring and related research;

(12) focus on national nutrition monitoring needs while building on the responsibilities and expertise of the individual membership of the Board;

(13) administer the coordinated program, define program objectives, priorities, oversight, responsibilities, and resources, and define the organization and management of the Board and the Council; and

(14) provide a mechanism for periodically evaluating and refining the coordinated program and the comprehensive plan that facilitates cooperation and interaction by State and local governments, the private sector, scientific communities, and health care professionals, and that facilitates coordination with non-Federal activities.

(c) Additional requirements of plan

The comprehensive plan shall—

(1) allocate all of the projected functions and activities under the coordinated program among the various Federal agencies and offices that will be involved;

(2) contain an affirmative statement and description of the functions to be performed and activities to be undertaken by each of such agencies and offices in carrying out the coordinated program; and

(3) constitute the basis on which each agency participating in the coordinated program requests authorizations and appropriations for nutrition monitoring and related research during the ten-year period of the program.

(d) Publication of plan

(1) Proposed plan

Within 12 months after October 22, 1990, the Secretaries shall publish in the Federal Register a proposed comprehensive plan for public review for a comment period of no less than sixty days.

(2) Final plan

Within sixty days after the comment period under paragraph (1) expires, and after considering any comments received, the Secretaries shall submit to the President, for submission to the Congress and for publication in the Federal Register, the final comprehensive plan.

(e) Prohibition on construing

Nothing in this section may be construed as modifying, or as authorizing the Secretaries or the comprehensive plan to modify, any provision of an appropriation Act (or any other provision of law relating to the use of appropriated funds) that specifies—

(1) the department or agency to which funds are appropriated; or

(2) the obligations of such department or agency with respect to the use of such funds.