(1) For the purposes of this chapter the following terms shall have the meanings set forth herein:

(a) “Advisory council” means the Mississippi Council of Advisors in Dietetics established in this chapter.

(b) “Board” means the Mississippi State Board of Health.

(c) “Association” means the American Dietetic Association (ADA).

(d) “Mississippi association” means the Mississippi Dietetic Association, an affiliate of the American Dietetic Association.

(e) “Commission on Dietetic Registration” (CDR) means the Commission on Dietetic Registration that is a member of the National Commission for Health Certifying Agencies.

(f) “Degree” means a degree received from a college or university that was accredited through the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation and the United States Department of Education at the time the degree was conferred.

(g) “Registered dietitian” means a person registered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration.

(h) “Licensed dietitian” means a person licensed under this chapter.

(i) “Provisionally licensed dietitian” means a person provisionally licensed under this chapter.

(j) “Dietetics practice” means the integration and application of the principles derived from the sciences of nutrition, biochemistry, food, physiology, management and behavioral and social sciences to achieve and maintain people’s health. Dietetics practice includes, but is not limited to:

(i) Providing medical nutrition therapy.

(ii) Development, administration, evaluation and consultation regarding nutritional care standards of quality in food services and medical nutrition therapy.

(iii) Providing case management services.

(k) “Medical nutrition therapy” is a nutritional diagnostic therapy and counseling services for the purpose of disease management. It means the assessment of the nutritional status of patients with a condition, illness or injury that appropriately requires medical nutrition therapy as part of the treatment. The assessment includes review and analysis of medical and diet history, blood chemistry lab values and anthropometric measurements to determine nutritional status and treatment modalities.

Therapy ranges from diet modification and nutrition counseling to administration of specialized nutrition therapies such as intravenous medical nutritional products as determined necessary to manage a condition or treat illness or injury.

(l) “Diet modification and nutrition counseling” means intervention and advice in assisting individuals or groups in the development of personal diet plans to achieve appropriate nutritional intake. To develop the diet plan, the dietitian integrates information from the nutritional assessment with information on food and other sources of nutrients and meal preparation consistent with cultural background and socioeconomic status.

(m) “Specialized nutrition therapies” mean medical foods, enteral nutrition delivered via tube, or parenteral nutrition delivered by intravenous infusion.

(n) “Nutrition educator” shall mean one who communicates scientific nutrition information to individuals and/or groups and who provides information on food sources of nutrients to meet normal nutrition need based on the most current “Recommended Dietary Allowances” of the Food and Nutrition Board, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council.

(o) “Dietitian” means one engaged in dietetics practice, medical nutrition therapy or nutrition education. The terms dietitian or dietician are used interchangeably in this chapter.

(p) “Direct, technical supervision” means the direct, technical supervision by a licensed dietitian, as prescribed in regulations by the board, of the dietetics practice or medical nutrition therapy provided to an individual and/or group by a provisionally licensed dietitian.

(q) “Department” means the Mississippi State Department of Health.

(2) All other terms shall have their commonly ascribed definitions unless some other meaning is clearly intended from its context.