US Congress rules that pizza is a vegetable

Miss Olenska

PIZZA IS A vegetable – at least according to a decision made by the US Congress. Who knew?
American lawmakers have ruled that the amount of tomato paste in pizza sauce means that pizzas can be counted as a vegetable.
The bizarre move, which was decided in a vote on the annual spending bill for the Department of Agriculture, happened for purely political reasons.
The crucial bill had oversight over subsidised school meals, and the department was seeking to restrict pizza, chips and starchy vegetables from the menu for school children in a bid to combat child obesity.
MSNBC reports that politicians had been lobbied heavily by the frozen food industry who didn’t want to see a major revenue stream cut off given how often pizza is found on the menus of school canteens in the US.
School meals subsidised by the government are mandated to include a certain amount of vegetables and the Department of Agriculture’s plan would have pushed pizza-makers at least partly out of the school lunch business.
The salt industry, potato growers, and some conservative politicians who said that the federal government shouldn’t be involved in telling children what to eat, also lobbied against the change.
After some debate, Congress voted that anything containing two tablespoons of tomato sauce can be labelled a vegetable, putting pizza into the vegetable category.
The Obama administration is fighting to make school lunches healthier in the face of a growing obesity problem across the country.

http://www.thejournal.ie/us-congress-rules-that-pizza-is-a-vegetable-282033-Nov2011/

So, they wanted to restrict the amount of fatty stodge served up to kids in cafeterias and introduce more vegetables, so frozen-food industry lobbyists strong-arm them into classing pizza as a vegetable so it can continue to be served. *bangs head against wall* It's inane because even if there was enough tomato sauce to class as a portion, that doesn't make PIZZA a vegetable, because er, well, pizza =/= tomato.

PS. Yes, yes, I know tomato is technically a fruit. :pac:

Yakult

Only in America..

suicide_circus

Yakult wrote: »

Only in America..

**** Yeah!

entropi

I dont even...

Wetai

Including Pizza with pepperoni, bacon, sausage, meatballs, ham & beef?

Snowie

mmm pizza .... hmmm dominos open at this hour ?

El Weirdo

Master of Nothing wrote: »

I dont even...

... what is this?

Miss Olenska

LiamN wrote: »

Including Pizza with pepperoni, bacon, sausage, meatballs, ham & beef?

And crappy processed cheese?

I've no problem with kids having cheese, in small doses it's good for them, but not that processed muck you just know would be on cafeteria pizza.

Wertz

I'll bet Jamie Oliver is crying into his pesto.

So where can I get seeds for this delicious new vegetable? I'll plant them right next to my coca cola tree...

Wertz

Additionally I propose that over half the US congress is composed of vegetable...

oppenheimer1

So they pass a law saying that children must eat veg at school, presumably to stop them junk food. They then decide to term a type of junk food a veg, in order to get around this?

Why don't they just be honest with themselves, as they are fooling no one but themselves.


Strange country.

FunkZ

Miss Olenska wrote: »

And crappy processed cheese?

Pizza cheese is not crappy :pac:

Wertz

I wonder how many slices is one of your 5 a day?

ballsymchugh

ah politicians are gas. the EU classed the carrot as a fruit for a while because you can get carrot jam in portugal, and it confused them so much since you can't make jam out of anything that's not a fruit.... apparently.
eventually they copped on, just like the bendy banana rules.

Bullchomper

Next in the US of A; Yes - you can classify guns as stationery, they are paper weights.

starbelgrade

The US Congress must be full of vegetables.

ScumLord

Wertz wrote: »

I'll bet Jamie Oliver is crying into his pesto.

So where can I get seeds for this delicious new vegetable? I'll plant them right next to my coca cola tree...

A pizza tree would be the best thing ever.

Miss Olenska

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

So they pass a law saying that children must eat veg at school, presumably to stop them junk food. They then decide to term a type of junk food a veg, in order to get around this?

Exactly.

Not strange really, just big business calling the shots.

Wertz

Only if it was thin stuffed crust.

CliffHuxtabel

Also Purple is a fruit

WindSock

Dough!

Jagle

Miss Olenska wrote: »

Exactly.

Not strange really, just big business calling the shots.

like how we closed off licenses an hour early to stop kids drinking...


right...


:rolleyes:

Aliensdidit

maybe their planing on making their bases from potato?

Paddy Cow

So can you boil it and eat it with your meat and potatoes?

Wetai

Paddy Cow wrote: »

So can you boil it

Do not want.

Aliensdidit

better than the microwave : /

kinda maybe

RichieC

Herman Cane owns Godfather's Pizzas. (or was ceo) my nets too slow to check it.

EKClarke

RichieC wrote: »

Herman Cane owns Godfather's Pizzas. (or was ceo) my nets too slow to check it.

He was CEO part-time, the rest of his time he spent feeling people up.

Snowie

Wertz wrote: »

I'll bet Jamie Oliver is crying into his pesto.

pesto on pizza is fvckin savage :cool:

Manic Moran

ballsymchugh wrote: »

ah politicians are gas. the EU classed the carrot as a fruit for a while because you can get carrot jam in portugal, and it confused them so much since you can't make jam out of anything that's not a fruit.... apparently.
eventually they copped on, just like the bendy banana rules.

Did they actually change that back? I remember when it was reclassified as a fruit. Farmer being interviewed in the Irish Times about it said he couldn't talk as was too busy pruning his carrot trees.

NTM

Borderfox

Not one bit suprised from Yankville

jimmymal

what a genius big balls move by big business, and those lobbyists must be the cheekiest, funniest b**tards that ever did exist.

i did think of jamie oliver immediately hearing this and pulling his hair out, oohhh thats good tv right there.

K-9

It's free choice, the free markets at it's best. Corporations will act in the greater good.

Sarah Palin speaks sense.

HazDanz

Great so now people over there are going to believe pizza is a vegtable and probably get fatter than they already are by having five pizzas a day.

Pherekydes

Miss Olenska wrote: »

PS. Yes, yes, I know tomato is technically a fruit. :pac:

All vegetables are fruit, but not all fruit are vegetables.

Tefral

Miss Olenska wrote: »

PS. Yes, yes, I know tomato is technically a fruit. :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpLd-Vi8qZA

monkeypants

Reagan did it first when his administration said that ketchup was a vegetable. Saved a fortune.

karma_

I realise that the US is really a corporate oligarchy, still, you would think they would be a little less brazen than they actually are, incredible.

mojesius

Carrot & Pizza Soup. Bleurgh.

CreepingDeath

Miss Olenska wrote: »

US Congress rules that pizza is a vegetable

If they can class steak as a vegetable they might get a lot of uncommitted vegetarian votes.

Doc Ruby

Snow-Monkey wrote: »

pesto on pizza is fvckin savage :cool:

Peel on some 59 cent mozzarella from Dunnes and even the most frisbee-like frozen pizza turns tasty.

Brendog

How does tomato sauce make it a vegetable? Based on that logic if I cover myself in feathers will I be considered a bird?

karma_

Manic Moran wrote: »

Did they actually change that back? I remember when it was reclassified as a fruit. Farmer being interviewed in the Irish Times about it said he couldn't talk as was too busy pruning his carrot trees.

NTM

This isn't really true at all, it is much like the 'curved banana' furore peddled by the idiotic redtops. The short answer is that the EU never reclassified carrots as a fruit.

TerrorFirmer

Brendog wrote: »

How does tomato sauce make it a vegetable? Based on that logic if I cover myself in feathers will I be considered a bird?

It makes it acceptable as one of your 5 recommended portions of fruit/veg a day. It doesn't take into account carbs/fats/protein etc, just simply that it can deliver enough to meet that standard of nutrition. Like if a bodybuilder eats a steak or a dirty double quarter pounder from McDonalds after a workout, the latter is incomparably worse for you, but yet both deliver similar amounts of protein.

It just means if someones going to eat junk, then a few slices of Pizza is better, simply nutritionally, than a greasy Chinese takeaway, for example also. It doesn't mean the pizza is inherently good for you, far from it, but it's better than a lot of other similar options.

Miss Olenska

karma_ wrote: »

I realise that the US is really a corporate oligarchy, still, you would think they would be a little less brazen than they actually are, incredible.

Nail on the head.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

It just means if someones going to eat junk, then a few slices of Pizza is better, simply nutritionally, than a greasy Chinese takeaway, for example also. It doesn't mean the pizza is inherently good for you, far from it, but it's better than a lot of other similar options.

Pizza = greasy. Chinese takeaway often contains a good amount of actual vegetables. Plus rice as opposed to processed white bread. I'd say Chinese is marginally better for you actually!

TerrorFirmer

Miss Olenska wrote: »

Pizza = greasy. Chinese takeaway often contains a good amount of actual vegetables. Plus rice as opposed to processed white bread. I'd say Chinese is marginally better for you actually!

Actually you're quite right, I suppose it depends on what you're ordering. Obviously if you're ordering Chicken in Sauce with rice and vegtables yes, but there are those that firmly believe in the infallibility of the 3-in-1 with a portion of chicken balls and prawn crackers.

Scram

Wertz wrote: »

I'll bet Jamie Oliver is crying into his pesto.

So where can I get seeds for this delicious new vegetable? I'll plant them right next to my coca cola tree...

Rofl that had me in stiches. Imagine whole fields of growing pizzas waving gently in the wind.

Poor Americans there so fat they want to call Pizza a vegtable now!

Miss Olenska

Pherekydes wrote: »

All vegetables are fruit, but not all fruit are vegetables.

Ugh, botany-related pedantry. Seriously, who cares! :P

sensibleken

Vegans rejoice!

CrazyRabbit

You're not going to believe this, but...they actually passed laws in some states making it mandatory to teach creationism in schools.

So the kids learn that humans started with Adam & Eve, then in the next class they study biology and learn about evolution.

Miss Olenska

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

You're not going to believe this, but...they actually passed laws in some states making it mandatory to teach creationism in schools.

Isn't this common knowledge?