Section 181. There shall be in the executive office of health and human services a nutrition board, hereinafter referred to as the board, which shall consist of the commissioner of public health, who shall serve as chairman, the commissioner of public welfare, the commissioner of early education and care, the commissioner of mental health, the commissioner of developmental services, the commissioner of education, the commissioner of food and agriculture, the secretary of health and human services, the director of consumer affairs and business regulation, the secretary of elder affairs, or their respective designees, and nine persons to be appointed for terms of three years by the governor, of whom one shall be a registered physician with expertise in nutritional science, one shall be a qualified practicing nutritionist or dietician with experience and knowledge in public and community nutrition, one shall be a representative of the food industry, one shall be a nutrition educator from an institution of higher education concerned with graduate education in the field of nutrition, and five shall be representatives of the general public who shall be consumers selected in a manner so as to reflect the population distribution of the commonwealth. Appointive members of the board shall not be compensated for their services, but shall be reimbursed for any expense actually and necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties.

The chairman shall, with the approval of the board, appoint a secretary and an executive secretary who shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one and section nine A of chapter thirty, but who shall be recognized authorities in the field of public health nutrition and nutritional science and who shall have broad experience in public health nutrition. The secretary and executive secretary shall receive such salary as the board, with the approval of the governor, may fix. The chairman shall, with the approval of the board, expend such sums for clerical, technical and other assistance as may be required by the board in carrying out its duties. The board shall be provided with adequate quarters in the state house or elsewhere.