The meat industry is pushing the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments, which will write final dietary guidelines by the end of the year, to do what they have done before: prominently recommend lean meats as part of a healthy diet. A proposal, released last month, recommends that people consume fewer red and processed meats and relegates the health benefits of lean meat to a footnote.

WASHINGTON — The meat industry is seeing red.

Meat companies have tried to rehabilitate an image tarnished in recent years by health and environmental concerns. Now the industry is swiftly and aggressively working to discredit a proposal for new dietary guidelines that recommends people eat less red and processed meat.

The proposal last month by a government advisory committee also relegates the health benefits of lean meat to a footnote to the main recommendations.

“We’ve been put in a position over the years to almost be apologizing for our product; we’re not going to do that anymore,” said Barry Carpenter, the president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute.

The meat industry long has been one of the more powerful lobbies in Washington, enjoying an especially close relationship with the Agriculture Department, which has inspectors in meat processing plants.

Together, the meat processing and livestock industries spent about $7 million on lobbying last year and donated more than $5 million to members of Congress in the last election cycle, according to the political money and influence tracking website OpenSecrets.org.

Meat industry executives say their push is about the American perception of red meat, rather than just dollars, though the guidelines can have an eventual impact on government purchases for the military and school lunches.

Carpenter’s group recently released a video of the slaughter process to counter criticism about the way animals are killed. It also is trying to better engage with consumers through social media, tweeting links to its “Meat Mythcrushers” site, which looks at nutrition and other issues from the industry’s point of view.

Now, the industry is pushing the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, which will write final dietary guidelines by year’s end. Industry groups are asking officials to do what they have done in the past: prominently recommend lean meats as part of a healthy diet. They also are asking their many, mostly Republican, allies in Congress to pressure the Obama administration.

Congress appears ready to help.

“The secretaries share responsibility for these flawed recommendations,” said House Agriculture Chairman Michael Conaway, R-Texas. Conaway was among the House members who wrote the departments last week about the overall recommendations, including advice that people eat a more sustainable, plant-based diet because it is better for the environment.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has not said what the final guidelines will look like. But he has pledged to keep them focused on nutrition and diet, giving the meat industry some hope that perhaps at least the environmental portion could be left out.