It's official. You can do just about anything with money and enough political clout:
The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year which limits the use of potatoes and delays limits on sodium and a requirement to boost whole grains.
The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable.[italics added]But why would congress want to revise a bill that effectively forces kids to eat healthier in school? After all, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in America who believes pizza and french fries are a healthy part of a balanced diet. The answer, as it often is, is that money talks:
Food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes, and some conservatives in Congress say the federal government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.Ronald McDonald, Little Caesar, and the Noid could not be reached for comment.
Listen. I love pizza as much as the next guy; as long as the next guy has a custom-made pizza peel, hacked oven, and makes pizza from scratch using italian "00" flour. But let's get things straight. Pizza is a sometimes food, just like cookies and french fries. This is perhaps the most blatant example of corporate influence in recent memory. Also, botanically speaking, tomatoes are a fruit.
I know!...how come no one realizes that tomato is a fruit? along with cucumber and peppers. Clearly, a lot of people are confused about what vegetables are, in more ways than one.
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