Bill would label pizza a vegetable in school lunches

11-16-2011

Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post

If you put nutritious broccoli and kale on top of a chocolate-glazed donut, can the concoction be considered equivalent to a vegetable serving? This is the same logic that Congress is about to incorporate into a new law as it gets ready to vote on legislation that would, among other things, allow public schools to count a small amount tomato paste that is put on top of pizzas to be counted as a vegetable. The legislation is a spending bill that in part takes aim at standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year to make school lunches healthier amid an obesity epidemic among young people. The standards, based on recommendations from the National Institute of Medicine, included restricting the amount of starchy potatoes that could be served to kids each week, as well as the amount of sodium. But Congress knows better than medical professionals — or, at least, is more interested in making potato growers happy — and, therefore, the bill will delay or block these and other proposed standards. (more...)

Also: New York Times

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Bill would label pizza a vegetable in school lunches

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