French Fries are a vegetable, too
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1239835,00.html
So you want fresh veg? Grab a carton of chips
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Wednesday June 16, 2004
The Guardian
Think of fresh vegetables and you think of fields of crops, or perhaps rows of supermarket shelves brimming with luscious, colourful variety.
But thanks to the US department of agriculture, American consumers will no longer have to bother with such healthy fare. A little-noticed ruling by the department reclassifies french fries as fresh vegetables.
Arguing that the process of coating or battering a vegetable does not change the end product, the department has ruled that a chip is as fresh as, and indeed not that different from, a waxed lemon.
The change, introduced last year after pressure from the US chip industry, will come as a relief to parents who weary of the daily battle to persuade their offspring to eat fresh vegetables.
The ruling came to light this week after a Texas judge ruled against a lawyer who challenged the reclassification on behalf of a bankrupt vegetable distributor. The judge, Richard Schell, agreed with the agriculture department that the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous.
Lawyers for the department had argued in court that chips, far from being a processed food, were in fact still fresh.
"While plaintiff argued that batter-coated french fries are processed products, they have not been 'processed' to the point that they are no longer fresh," the agriculture department's lawyers argued. "It is still considered 'fresh' because it is not preserved. It retains its perishable quality."
The change was first proposed in 2002 after lobbying of the agriculture department by the Frozen Potato Products Institute. The amendment to the perishable agricultural commodities act, which was drawn up in 1930 to protect fruit and vegetable growers, goes beyond potatoes to include most battered vegetables as well as products such as caramel-coated apples.
The reclassification will be welcome news to the french fries industry, with consumption having dropped in the US. In 2001, consumers ate an average of 13.3kg (29.4lb) of frozen potato products, down 2.4% from 1996.
So you want fresh veg? Grab a carton of chips
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Wednesday June 16, 2004
The Guardian
Think of fresh vegetables and you think of fields of crops, or perhaps rows of supermarket shelves brimming with luscious, colourful variety.
But thanks to the US department of agriculture, American consumers will no longer have to bother with such healthy fare. A little-noticed ruling by the department reclassifies french fries as fresh vegetables.
Arguing that the process of coating or battering a vegetable does not change the end product, the department has ruled that a chip is as fresh as, and indeed not that different from, a waxed lemon.
The change, introduced last year after pressure from the US chip industry, will come as a relief to parents who weary of the daily battle to persuade their offspring to eat fresh vegetables.
The ruling came to light this week after a Texas judge ruled against a lawyer who challenged the reclassification on behalf of a bankrupt vegetable distributor. The judge, Richard Schell, agreed with the agriculture department that the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous.
Lawyers for the department had argued in court that chips, far from being a processed food, were in fact still fresh.
"While plaintiff argued that batter-coated french fries are processed products, they have not been 'processed' to the point that they are no longer fresh," the agriculture department's lawyers argued. "It is still considered 'fresh' because it is not preserved. It retains its perishable quality."
The change was first proposed in 2002 after lobbying of the agriculture department by the Frozen Potato Products Institute. The amendment to the perishable agricultural commodities act, which was drawn up in 1930 to protect fruit and vegetable growers, goes beyond potatoes to include most battered vegetables as well as products such as caramel-coated apples.
The reclassification will be welcome news to the french fries industry, with consumption having dropped in the US. In 2001, consumers ate an average of 13.3kg (29.4lb) of frozen potato products, down 2.4% from 1996.
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