Posted on 03/29/2024 9:40:47 AM PDT by algore
Senators are fighting back against rumblings that the US government will stop classifying potatoes as a vegetable.
Fourteen lawmakers have written to the federal agencies who could influence the change, warning it would confuse Americans and cause chaos for supply chains.
It comes amid reports that the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is 'considering changes to food groups,' including a proposal to lump starchy vegetables in the same category as grains, which would put it in the same bracket as bread and rice.
The panel is tasked with providing independent, science-based advice to the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) to help inform recommendations when it comes to diet.
The new guidelines will be rolled out next year.
But the USDA has insisted the government 'is not considering a change to the classification of potatoes.'
Still, on Thursday, Bipartisan senators from Colorado, Idaho, Maine, North Dakota, Oregon, Nebraska, Montana, Michigan, and Washington addressed their letter to HHS secretary Xavier Becerra and USDA head Tom Vilsack calling for any plans to be abandoned.
They said: 'The scientific justification behind the assertion that potatoes are not vegetables is not strong, and there are documented nutritional benefits of potatoes.'
Potatoes provide crucial nutrients, including potassium, calcium, fiber, and vitamin B6, and reclassifying them as grains would change public perception of their health value and upend national dietary guidelines about healthy eating habits.
Industry groups told Congress last year they'd heard murmurs about the move, which is believed to be due to the fact potatoes are high in carbohydrates and have a higher glycemic index than most vegetables.
Unlike a lot of grains, however, yellow potatoes contain more fiber, which slows down the spike in blood sugar that happens after eating sugars.
Possible reclassification has spooked the food industry
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Maybe we can reclassify people who believe genders are fluid as "Fruits"
It’s a root fruit 🤣
When turned into the right kind of French fries, they become one of the major food groups all by themselves.
Who the hell is the government???
but no fury by republicans that biden is phasing out gas vehicles for truckers- causing the price of food to skyrocket yet again?
Come on Sweet Meteor of Death, you are overdue!
The writing was on the wall when they decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet.
Next up — Republicans aren’t human beings.
the “government” was Meant by the Founders of this Great nation to be “The People” but it only took a few hundred years to pervert the collective minds of “the people” into believing that only the most flawed and nefarious among the people deserve to be in control of the rest of the people. “Democracy : a type of government that allows 51% of the voters to Dictate to the other 49%”.
Is Dan Quayle still alive?
this is a vignette of the nature, size and bloat of America’s proto-marxist government
A DC political fight is launched over classification of potatoes.
Potatoes are as much “vegetables” as carrots, radishes, turnips or yams. Why the reclassification?
As far as that goes, if dug up and the dirt is wiped off, potatoes may be eaten much like an apple. But nobody, NOBODY, will ever mistake a potato for an apple.
If they are going to change the classification, it makes me think that somehow, this change will decrease the production of potatoes. I’m sure there are rules that will govern this, and these rules do not benefit the American people. This may seem a trivial action, but there has to be some harm or evil intended toward the people.
“Maybe we can reclassify people who believe genders are fluid as “Fruits”
Winner.
wy69
My horticulture prof once told me that a fruit is a mature plant ovary. The short form is that if it has seeds it’s a fruit. But try telling granny that a tomato is a fruit.
Botanically an Idaho potato is an underground stem while a yam or sweet potato is a true root.
A potato consists of vegetative matter, as does Joe Biden’s brain.
He’s declaring war on Idaho. That insult will NOT be forgiven!
Are peanuts actually nuts?
If the US government stops classifying potatoes as a vegetable, WHAT will we refer to BIDEN as?
Is he now a Pedo-Fruit, Pervo-Fruit, Demented-Fruit?
Maybe since a Potato is a Tuber, then we could call Joey a Pedo-Tuber, Pervo-Tuber, or a Super-Tuber.
Waaaayyyy to much coffee this morning
This gets my Irish up.
Change the classification of potatoes - that is cause for bi-partisan intervention.
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