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DesideriScuri -> RE: Food Police (5/25/2015 10:00:00 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lucylastic
Point of order....1981
Reporting on the proposed directive, Newsweek magazine illustrated its story with a bottle of ketchup captioned "now a vegetable".[13] The proposed directive was criticized by nutritionists and Democratic politicians who staged photo ops where they dined on nutrition-poor meals that conformed to the new lax standards. Compounding this outrage and even though the purchase was privately financed, the same day that the USDA announced the cost-cutting proposal for school lunches, the White House purchased $209,508 worth of new china and place settings with the presidential seal embossed in gold.[14][15]
During her testimony before the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education on September 17, 1981, Food Research and Action Center Director Nancy Amidei described a "mini meal" that she stated would meet the proposed FNS standards made up of a 1.5-ounce hamburger, half of a roll, nine grapes, six ounces of milk, and six French fries. She described a second meal that included "a lot of relish and ketchup on a tiny hamburger" as also meeting the full quantity of both meat and vegetables as established by the new regulations.[12] The Food Research and Action Center, among other nutritional advocacy groups, were part of an opposition campaign that, according to proponents of the new FNS regulations, lacked faith in local school lunch administrators to plan healthy school lunches that adhered to the new standards.[16]
Multiple articles in the press voiced conflicting statements on the ketchup controversy. A September 1981 Reuters piece stated "ketchup, which has a high sugar content, was defined under new Government rules as a vegetable",[17] while a December New York Times piece from that same year noted that "ketchup, of course was never mentioned in the proposals, which were designed to give local school officials more flexibility in planning their meals."[16] Administrator Hoagland elaborated on the media field day that resulted from the ketchup controversy, stating "it's an insult to me and to school lunchroom officials to say that we would even consider forcing kids to eat ketchup as a vegetable."[18]
Despite the fact that ketchup was not explicitly referenced as a vegetable substitute in the regulations,[3] the condiment became an easy visual for skeptics to cite when criticizing the Reagan Administration and the proposed regulations. Reporter Benjamin Weinraub called the issue "the Emperor's new condiments",[6] and reporter Russell Baker gave President Reagan the tongue-in-cheek "Sore President of the Year Award" writing "it was given to President Reagan on the basis of reports that in spite of the ever-pleasant smile, he is secretly sore on his old botany teacher for telling him that ketchup is a vegetable."[19]
Ooooh, someone's a bit butt sore. All I did was point out that the 1980 Act didn't come from Reagan, and that neither Act came from a Republican-led Congress. So, blaming just Reagan and the GOP for the cuts is intellectual dishonesty at best.
Don't forget that President Obama signed legislation that allowed for pizza to be considered a vegetable because of the sauce back in 2011 (also under a divided Congress).
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