Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Another helping of vegetables, please
For those who doubt the Bush administration's credentials as the spiritual successor to the Reagan administration, one of the Kossacs has unearthed this item.
WASHINGTON - Anyone trying to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet may have just gotten an unlikely assist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Based on a little-noticed change to obscure federal rules, the USDA defines frozen french fries as "fresh vegetables."

[...]

The Frozen Potato Products Institute appealed to the USDA in 2000 to change its definition of fresh produce under PACA to include batter-coated, frozen french fries, arguing that rolling potato slices in a starch coating, frying them and freezing them is the equivalent of waxing a cucumber or sweetening a strawberry.

One order of chili cheese fries covers most of the basic food groups. All these years I've been eating much more healthily than my mother ever thought.

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