Isn't chicken a vegetable? A new US government proposal to reclassify starchy staple foods, including potatoes, has local lawmakers furious.
Sens. Susan Collins and Michael Bennet, a Maine Republican and a Colorado Democrat, are spearheading an effort to persuade government officials to back away from plans to call the root vegetable a grain, but the government Officials are concerned that the measures will have a negative impact on agriculture.
“Since its inception, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has correctly classified potatoes as a vegetable,” Collins and Bennett wrote in a letter to both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The proposal to strip potatoes of their status as a “vegetable” will be included in the next 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which the two departments will jointly develop.
Americans eat more potatoes than any other vegetable, 50 pounds per person per year, according to USDA statistics, and nearly half of that is served frozen, like French fries.
Nutritionists painted a grim picture of the country's consumption habits in a 2019 government survey, estimating that only one in ten adults eat enough vegetables.
Experts are also divided on whether potatoes should be included in an individual's vegetable intake, as they are high in carbohydrates and can cause spikes in blood sugar levels.
The senators pointed to a 2013 National Library of Medicine study that argued that potatoes “provide important nutrients and should be included in the group of vegetables.”
“The physical characteristics of the potato and its horticultural scientific classification are indisputable. Unlike grains, white potatoes are high in potassium, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and fiber,” they say. insisted.
The senators said the classification change would confuse consumers, retailers, restaurateurs and producers.
Potato farming contributes $540 million in annual sales to Collins' economy, and there are 6,100 jobs associated with the industry, according to online publication The Maine Wire.
