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Eat your veggies!

Nov 21, 2011#1

TommiR

US Congress rules that pizza is a vegetable

PIZZA CAN BE classed as a vegetable – at least according to a decision made by the US Congress. Who knew?

American lawmakers have ruled that the amount of tomato paste in pizza sauce means that pizzas can be counted as a vegetable.

The bizarre move, which was decided in a vote on the annual spending bill for the Department of Agriculture, happened for purely political reasons.

The crucial bill had oversight over subsidised school meals, and the department was seeking to restrict pizza, chips and starchy vegetables from the menu for school children in a bid to combat child obesity.

MSNBC reports that politicians had been lobbied heavily by the frozen food industry who didn’t want to see a major revenue stream cut off given how often pizza is found on the menus of school canteens in the US.

School meals subsidised by the government are mandated to include a certain amount of vegetables and the Department of Agriculture’s plan would have pushed pizza-makers at least partly out of the school lunch business.

The salt industry, potato growers, and some conservative politicians who said that the federal government shouldn’t be involved in telling children what to eat, also lobbied against the change.

After some debate, Congress voted that anything containing two tablespoons of tomato sauce can be labelled a vegetable, putting pizza into the vegetable category.

The Obama administration is fighting to make school lunches healthier in the face of a growing obesity problem across the country.

You know, I used to think the directives issued by the EU sometimes seemed a bit funny. But I guess we over here are still amateurs on that.

Nov 21, 2011#2

Allen who is Quiet

Remember the part where people complain that the US government cares too much about the well-being of corporate entities and will push policies that favor them, even though it might be to the detriment of US residents? WELP.

Nov 21, 2011#3

Hylian

Nov 21, 2011#4

PatrThom

At least they aren't deep-frying that pizza.

--Patrick

Nov 21, 2011#5

Shegokigo

No because then it would fall into the Grains category.

Nov 21, 2011#6

makare

Well does pizza sauce have the same amount of vitamins as a a serving of veggies? You can't look at this like you would normal stuff. I've seen into the black abyss that is the education dietary guidelines and within only lies madness.

At the preschool I worked at one morning the kids would get half a breakfast burrito and the next day they would get half a FROZEN WAFFLE and some canned fruit. It was asinine. It was all based on vitamin content not what they actually got to eat. My guess is if the pizza meets the nutrition requirement per meal then it would still fit the guidelines.And the kids don't have to eat something like canned corn with their pizza.

Nov 21, 2011#7

Ravenpoe

Government shouldn't be trying to tell our kids what to eat! That's what big business is for.

Nov 21, 2011#8

TommiR

makare said:
Well does pizza sauce have the same amount of vitamins as a a serving of veggies? You can't look at this like you would normal stuff. I've seen into the black abyss that is the education dietary guidelines and within only lies madness.

At the preschool I worked at one morning the kids would get half a breakfast burrito and the next day they would get half a FROZEN WAFFLE and some canned fruit. It was asinine. It was all based on vitamin content not what they actually got to eat. My guess is if the pizza meets the nutrition requirement per meal then it would still fit the guidelines.And the kids don't have to eat something like canned corn with their pizza.

That vegetable certainly looks delicious.

Seriously though, I think as the article said/implied, this piece of legislation is a political tool to enable regular pizza to fit right in with the nutritional requirements for federally subsidized school meals. The USDA wanted to introduce healthier foods, and that move was recommended by the Institute of Medicine and backed by the National Academy of Sciences. The vested interests didn't like that, so you got this gem of legislation. If pizza didn't fit in with the new requirements before, it certainly does now.

I just think a better way could be found to introduce young kids to healthier food than saying two spoonfuls of tomato sauce on top of your biggest cardiac arrest bomb equals properly nutritional eating. And if you don't want to go for healthier foods in school or don't think the government should interfere in this, there should be more reasonable avenues available to oppose the move then this... curiosity.

Nov 21, 2011#9

Covar

Because when you can't meet the standards...lower them.

Nov 21, 2011#10

Cajungal

Yep, and it's okay to feed your kids Chef Boyardee for every damn meal because technically it contains a serving of vegetables. Sure, the sodium might screw their hearts up, but at least they're ingesting tomatoes in some fashion. Jesus, man.

Nov 21, 2011#11

makare

Meh. Before I get too upset about this I'd have to go through and read the previous regulations, compare them to this one and then make my own decision. I just don't have time to fact check news sources any more.

Just keep in mind that the way you guys seem to be looking at it you would be fine with a meal of a biscuit, macaroni and cheese, celery sticks and milk but not a slice of pizza and I have to believe that tomato sauce does have more nutritional benefits than celery.

Nov 21, 2011#12

Null

Educational guidelines seem to be almost as insane as drug regulation laws, though all I know about them is purely anecdotal. I'm sure there are good reasons for a lot of it, and terrible reasons for entirely too much of it.

Nov 21, 2011#13

Gared

Don't forget that the basis for this ruling was laid down back in the early 80's when Reagan decreed that ketchup was a vegetable.

Nov 21, 2011#14

makare

Americans drink ketchup. I heard that somewhere....

Nov 21, 2011#15

Gared

Nah, you're thinking of pickle juice, which should probably be classified as a fruit/vegetable juice for the sake of school nutrition values. After all, vegetables were in it at one point in time, and if it's high-quality stuff, it might still have garlic bits in it.

Nov 21, 2011#16

makare

I do like a good pickle pop

read into that what you will....

Nov 21, 2011#17

Dei

Pizza is not necessarily bad for you... but add in some mass production and it becomes horrible.

Nov 21, 2011#18

makare

When I was in high school you could either get the daily meal or pizza. The pizza was from Pizza Hut. It was pretty good. Not saying it was good for me but it was a lot better than some school lunch pizzas.

Nov 21, 2011#19

TommiR

makare said:
I do like a good pickle pop

read into that what you will....

Yeah, change you can believe in and all that...

Dei said:
Pizza is not necessarily bad for you... but add in some mass production and it becomes horrible.

I suppose a pizza can be made with a view to health aspects as well, but most of the regular pizzas I'm familiar with cannot, in good conscience, be declared good for a person's physical health. And it would appear that the initial USDA proposal considered pizzas and french fries to be prime offenders in school cafeterias.

I'm really not convinced this piece of legislation is a good example to be setting. In my opinion, children shouldn't consider pizza as a vegetable serving, and nor should parents. Any benefits of that 'vegetable' are dwarfed by the unhealthy aspects of the pizza. You wouldn't consider a Big Mac healthy for having relish and a slice of pickle in it, and the last thing people need is a precedent for agribusiness to peddle junk as one of your '5 veggies a day'.

Nov 21, 2011#20

makare

Also you can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat.

Nov 24, 2011#21

PatrThom