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According to a congress it is.
Pizza is a Vegetable? Congress Defies Logic, Betrays Our Children
Pizza is a Vegetable? Congress Defies Logic, Betrays Our Children
Originally Posted by :
If there were any lingering doubts as to whom our elected representatives really work for, they were put to rest Tuesday when Congress announced that frozen pizza was a vegetable. The United States Congress voted to rebuke new USDA guidelines for school lunches that would have increased the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in school cafeterias and instead declared that the tomato paste on frozen pizza qualified it as a vegetable.
For this we can thank large food companies -- in this case ConAgra and Schwan -- which pressured Congress to comply with their financial interests. It simply doesn't suit the makers of frozen pizza, chicken nuggets and tater tots for schools to offer real food in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Many conservative lawmakers are also insisting that the federal government shouldn't tell people what to eat. This is the same argument Sarah Palin used against Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign to the rallying cry, "nanny-state."
But the government clearly does not control the food Americans eat. Corporations do. In this case ConAgra and Schwan are quite literally determining what the vast majority of our school children will be fed in school cafeterias: A veritable chemical concoction made to look like pizza. These are the ingredients for the "traditional 4x6 school pizza" made by ConAgra:
CRUST: (Enriched wheat flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, soybean oil, dextrose, baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate), yeasts (yeast, starch, sorbitan monostearate, ascorbic acid), salt, dough conditioners (wheat flour, salt, soy oil, L-cysteine, ascorbic acid, fungal enzyme), wheat gluten, soy flour).
SAUCE: (water, tomato paste (31 percent NTSS), pizza seasoning (salt, sugar, spices, dehydrated onion, guar and xanthan gum, garlic powder, potassium sorbate, citric acid, tricalcium phophate and soybean oil (prevent caking)), modified food starch). SHREDDED MOZZARELLA
CHEESE: (Pasteurized part skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes). SHREDDED MOZZARELLA
CHEESE SUBSTITUTE: (Water, oil (soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil with citric acid), casein, milk protein concentrate, modified food starch, contains 2 percent or less of the following: sodium aluminum phosphate, salt, lactic acid, mozzarella cheese type flavor (cheese (milk, culture, rennet, salt), milk solids, disodium phosphate), disodium phosphate, sorbic acid, nutrient blend (magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin and vitamin B-12), vitamin A palmitate).
It's not even pizza, much less a vegetable. (And if you think that's bad take a look at the ingredients for the "Pepperoni, Reduced Fat Pizza").
This vote by Congress makes it abundantly clear who calls the shots when it comes to feeding our nation's children. According to The New York Times food companies have spent $5.6 million lobbying against these new rules.
Meanwhile, writer Ed Bruske brings up an important, related point on The Slow Cook. He writes:
[This] also provides a vivid illustration of what happens when you go after the foods kids most love in the lunch line. Pizza is the all-time favorite school lunch food, followed by potatoes in all their guises. Essentially, the proposed new guidelines would sharply cut back on foods kids really like, and replace them with things they hate: vegetables, beans and whole grains. Turns out there are huge amounts of money at stake behind the foods beloved by the 32 million children who participate in the national school lunch program. Frozen food companies are protecting their share the best way they know how: using their clout with their local congressman.
He goes on:
Other efforts to mess with pizza also have failed. In Berkeley, for instance, elementary school children get a rectangular pizza made with a locally-produced whole wheat crust. Middle schoolers, however, insist on a round pizza, which has to be sourced through a wholesale food distributor ... As I've learned sitting in on meals at my daughter's school the past two years here in the District of Columbia, children will go to great lengths to avoid the foods adults consider "healthy." Vegetables, beans and whole grains -- they typically get dumped in the trash. Kids will spend inordinate time picking the spinach out of fresh-cooked lasagna, for instance, before wolfing down the pasta.
So, the real question is, why do children want pizza, potatoes and pasta while vehemently eschewing green vegetables, beans and whole grains? This hasn't always been the case. Keep in mind that industrial food as it exists today has only been around for roughly 60 years. Much of what we take as the truth about what kinds of food kids love and hate is largely dictated by the food industry itself. The idea that kids won't eat vegetables is a construct invented by the food industry and reinforced by well-meaning parents, school lunch programs and government officials.
Herein lies the brilliance of the food industry -- not only has it created a myriad of products but it also created the idea that children want industrial food products above all else. While most Americans have bought into this notion, it's simply not true. Children 100 years ago couldn't have possibly eaten the industrial foods they are eating today. But listening to parents and children now, you'd be convinced that they will only eat industrial foods. Bruske writes that the middle schoolers in Berkeley "insist" on round industrial pizza.
How was this notion started? The food industry literally shapes and changes the palates of our children. Constantly eating sugary, salty and fatty food products adjusts taste preference to the point that simple, real foods taste bland and unappealing. While the food industry insists that it only advertises to children "to influence brand preference," a study published in the journal Appetite found that the food industry works to, "fundamentally change children's taste palates to increase their liking of highly processed and less nutritious foods."
This makes it all the more outrageous that Congress won't stand up to Big Food to say it will not allow financial interests to trump the health and well-being of America's children. With one out of five four-year-olds now obese, the health of our nation's children is in such a sorry state that the food movement may have some unlikely allies on this front. According to the Associated Press, a group of retired generals criticized the move by Congress, calling the decision a national security issue since obesity has become the leading medical disqualifier for military service. Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group called Mission: Readiness said in a letter to members of Congress before the final plan was released, "We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program."
But this is what Congress has done. It has let the American people down and failed to protect our children. As Michele Simon astutely points out, "Congress has hijacked the USDA regulatory process to do the food industry's bidding." How much longer will we allow Big Food and our government to propagate lies about food and compromise the health of our nation's children for their financial and political gain?
If there were any lingering doubts as to whom our elected representatives really work for, they were put to rest Tuesday when Congress announced that frozen pizza was a vegetable. The United States Congress voted to rebuke new USDA guidelines for school lunches that would have increased the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in school cafeterias and instead declared that the tomato paste on frozen pizza qualified it as a vegetable.
For this we can thank large food companies -- in this case ConAgra and Schwan -- which pressured Congress to comply with their financial interests. It simply doesn't suit the makers of frozen pizza, chicken nuggets and tater tots for schools to offer real food in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Many conservative lawmakers are also insisting that the federal government shouldn't tell people what to eat. This is the same argument Sarah Palin used against Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign to the rallying cry, "nanny-state."
But the government clearly does not control the food Americans eat. Corporations do. In this case ConAgra and Schwan are quite literally determining what the vast majority of our school children will be fed in school cafeterias: A veritable chemical concoction made to look like pizza. These are the ingredients for the "traditional 4x6 school pizza" made by ConAgra:
CRUST: (Enriched wheat flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, soybean oil, dextrose, baking powder (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate), yeasts (yeast, starch, sorbitan monostearate, ascorbic acid), salt, dough conditioners (wheat flour, salt, soy oil, L-cysteine, ascorbic acid, fungal enzyme), wheat gluten, soy flour).
SAUCE: (water, tomato paste (31 percent NTSS), pizza seasoning (salt, sugar, spices, dehydrated onion, guar and xanthan gum, garlic powder, potassium sorbate, citric acid, tricalcium phophate and soybean oil (prevent caking)), modified food starch). SHREDDED MOZZARELLA
CHEESE: (Pasteurized part skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes). SHREDDED MOZZARELLA
CHEESE SUBSTITUTE: (Water, oil (soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil with citric acid), casein, milk protein concentrate, modified food starch, contains 2 percent or less of the following: sodium aluminum phosphate, salt, lactic acid, mozzarella cheese type flavor (cheese (milk, culture, rennet, salt), milk solids, disodium phosphate), disodium phosphate, sorbic acid, nutrient blend (magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin and vitamin B-12), vitamin A palmitate).
It's not even pizza, much less a vegetable. (And if you think that's bad take a look at the ingredients for the "Pepperoni, Reduced Fat Pizza").
This vote by Congress makes it abundantly clear who calls the shots when it comes to feeding our nation's children. According to The New York Times food companies have spent $5.6 million lobbying against these new rules.
Meanwhile, writer Ed Bruske brings up an important, related point on The Slow Cook. He writes:
[This] also provides a vivid illustration of what happens when you go after the foods kids most love in the lunch line. Pizza is the all-time favorite school lunch food, followed by potatoes in all their guises. Essentially, the proposed new guidelines would sharply cut back on foods kids really like, and replace them with things they hate: vegetables, beans and whole grains. Turns out there are huge amounts of money at stake behind the foods beloved by the 32 million children who participate in the national school lunch program. Frozen food companies are protecting their share the best way they know how: using their clout with their local congressman.
He goes on:
Other efforts to mess with pizza also have failed. In Berkeley, for instance, elementary school children get a rectangular pizza made with a locally-produced whole wheat crust. Middle schoolers, however, insist on a round pizza, which has to be sourced through a wholesale food distributor ... As I've learned sitting in on meals at my daughter's school the past two years here in the District of Columbia, children will go to great lengths to avoid the foods adults consider "healthy." Vegetables, beans and whole grains -- they typically get dumped in the trash. Kids will spend inordinate time picking the spinach out of fresh-cooked lasagna, for instance, before wolfing down the pasta.
So, the real question is, why do children want pizza, potatoes and pasta while vehemently eschewing green vegetables, beans and whole grains? This hasn't always been the case. Keep in mind that industrial food as it exists today has only been around for roughly 60 years. Much of what we take as the truth about what kinds of food kids love and hate is largely dictated by the food industry itself. The idea that kids won't eat vegetables is a construct invented by the food industry and reinforced by well-meaning parents, school lunch programs and government officials.
Herein lies the brilliance of the food industry -- not only has it created a myriad of products but it also created the idea that children want industrial food products above all else. While most Americans have bought into this notion, it's simply not true. Children 100 years ago couldn't have possibly eaten the industrial foods they are eating today. But listening to parents and children now, you'd be convinced that they will only eat industrial foods. Bruske writes that the middle schoolers in Berkeley "insist" on round industrial pizza.
How was this notion started? The food industry literally shapes and changes the palates of our children. Constantly eating sugary, salty and fatty food products adjusts taste preference to the point that simple, real foods taste bland and unappealing. While the food industry insists that it only advertises to children "to influence brand preference," a study published in the journal Appetite found that the food industry works to, "fundamentally change children's taste palates to increase their liking of highly processed and less nutritious foods."
This makes it all the more outrageous that Congress won't stand up to Big Food to say it will not allow financial interests to trump the health and well-being of America's children. With one out of five four-year-olds now obese, the health of our nation's children is in such a sorry state that the food movement may have some unlikely allies on this front. According to the Associated Press, a group of retired generals criticized the move by Congress, calling the decision a national security issue since obesity has become the leading medical disqualifier for military service. Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group called Mission: Readiness said in a letter to members of Congress before the final plan was released, "We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program."
But this is what Congress has done. It has let the American people down and failed to protect our children. As Michele Simon astutely points out, "Congress has hijacked the USDA regulatory process to do the food industry's bidding." How much longer will we allow Big Food and our government to propagate lies about food and compromise the health of our nation's children for their financial and political gain?
Government corrupted by the corporations. 
Originally Posted by :
beloved by the 32 million children
Hey now, we never loved this stuff.beloved by the 32 million children
Though I was rather partial to the teriyaki chicken patties.
lol, next they are going to say that v-8 juice is healthy.
Anyway, it says that pizza can count (because of the tomato paste) towards the 2.5 cups of vegetables requirement or something, not that pizza is a vegetable.
I'm doubtful about the idea of just giving kids vegetables to fight obesity...that's a pretty minimal effort.
Anyway, it says that pizza can count (because of the tomato paste) towards the 2.5 cups of vegetables requirement or something, not that pizza is a vegetable.
I'm doubtful about the idea of just giving kids vegetables to fight obesity...that's a pretty minimal effort.
Clearly it doesn't state that pizza is a vegetsble, but the effect appears to be that it makes food that pretty clearly has extremely limited nutritional value effectively count as a vegetable, so it amounts to the same thing.
What I find almost as astonishing is the idea that anyone can object to the idea of feeding children healthily in schools on the basis it somehow impinges on personal freedoms.
What I find almost as astonishing is the idea that anyone can object to the idea of feeding children healthily in schools on the basis it somehow impinges on personal freedoms.
Originally Posted by Catiline:
What I find almost as astonishing is the idea that anyone can object to the idea of feeding children healthily in schools on the basis it somehow impinges on personal freedoms.
You haven't seen what they put in the canteen when they brought in the laws in the UK. Luckily I went into 6th form so I could leave the school grounds or I would have starved to death. Healthy eating definitely isn't the 'Asda Smartprice' cardboard tasting stuff they served instead. I used to love the Chips, Burgers and Pizza's they had in Highschool coupled with some soda, they actually tasted good and were cheap. Then they replaced with it with cardboard veggie burgers, the most blandest rice imaginable, shepards pie that looked like it had been scraped up from the floor, "Warm coloured milk" in a poor excuse of a milkshake or a 'ice slushee' charged at a price of a can, but only had 50ml of liquid, compared to 330ml from a can. It was a complete dire disgrace.What I find almost as astonishing is the idea that anyone can object to the idea of feeding children healthily in schools on the basis it somehow impinges on personal freedoms.
Sucking for sucking's sake, maybe Obama should raise taxes on organic food so the congress support tax breaks, reversed psychology. If you got to serve lunch at least serve healthy food, or serve nothing at all. What's wrong with getting up a little earlier to make a few sandwiches.
Yet tomato is a fruit :P
People won't want to switch over to healthy food because it will cost the school and thus the parents a lot more to do it right. Healthy, fresh food isn't frozen for 5-7 days and good nutritious meals usually require many ingredients and not just bread, oil/fat, HFCS and dairy.
I remember watching Super Size Me where a school had pretty much signed a contract with a local bakery and culinary school or something to cook the school's lunches everyday. If that kind of thing was feasible everywhere, it would be win-win for everyone. Healthy lunches and permanent jobs.
I remember watching Super Size Me where a school had pretty much signed a contract with a local bakery and culinary school or something to cook the school's lunches everyday. If that kind of thing was feasible everywhere, it would be win-win for everyone. Healthy lunches and permanent jobs.
Originally Posted by a completely inoffensive name:
I remember watching Super Size Me where a school had pretty much signed a contract with a local bakery and culinary school or something to cook the school's lunches everyday. If that kind of thing was feasible everywhere, it would be win-win for everyone. Healthy lunches and permanent jobs.
Way too expensive, but the best way to do it for sure. Fast-Food shouldn't be available at schools at all imho. Let the lazy buggers make their own lunch.I remember watching Super Size Me where a school had pretty much signed a contract with a local bakery and culinary school or something to cook the school's lunches everyday. If that kind of thing was feasible everywhere, it would be win-win for everyone. Healthy lunches and permanent jobs.
In our socialistic nightmare state we have had free school meals since 1948 in all primary and secondary school´s.No pizza or burgers.There is a buffet of similar dishes of stuff eaten in Finnish home cooking. We havent gone bancrupt yet over it.
wt?????
Originally Posted by Fragony:
Way too expensive, but the best way to do it for sure. Fast-Food shouldn't be available at schools at all imho. Let the lazy buggers make their own lunch.
That was actually the interesting thing - IIRC* the cost in that particular case that ACIN is referring to was not vene higher.Way too expensive, but the best way to do it for sure. Fast-Food shouldn't be available at schools at all imho. Let the lazy buggers make their own lunch.
*not sure as it has been quite some time since I watched it
Originally Posted by Ser Clegane:
That was actually the interesting thing - IIRC* the cost in that particular case that ACIN is referring to was not vene higher.
I find that rather hard to believe, unless it's a really small (private)school. How do you handle the logistics of fresh products for a big one and beat the big boys prizewise, not possibleThat was actually the interesting thing - IIRC* the cost in that particular case that ACIN is referring to was not vene higher.
Originally Posted by Fragony:
I find that rather hard to believe, unless it's a really small (private)school. How do you handle the logistics of fresh products for a big one and beat the big boys prizewise, not possible
Atleast in Finland, the School has its own restaurant where they cook the food.Logistics is no more complicated then logistics of any restaurant.In matter of fact lot more simpler as the variety of dishes is non existant compared to restaurants as they only serve one main variety and few others for those with food allergies etc.I find that rather hard to believe, unless it's a really small (private)school. How do you handle the logistics of fresh products for a big one and beat the big boys prizewise, not possible
Originally Posted by Kagemusha:
Atleast in Finland, the School has its own restaurant where they cook the food.Logistics is no more complicated then logistics of any restaurant.In matter of fact lot more simpler as the variety of dishes is non existant compared to restaurants as they only serve one main variety and few others for those with food allergies etc.
Not saying it can't be organised, but you can't outprice mass-production. Someone who says one can is lying.Atleast in Finland, the School has its own restaurant where they cook the food.Logistics is no more complicated then logistics of any restaurant.In matter of fact lot more simpler as the variety of dishes is non existant compared to restaurants as they only serve one main variety and few others for those with food allergies etc.
Originally Posted by Fragony:
Not saying it can't be organised, but you can't outprice mass-production. Someone who says one can is lying.
To me as citizen it is much more important that the children are eating healthy food even if it costs bit more compared to eating processed crap so i can save few cents in taxes.Not saying it can't be organised, but you can't outprice mass-production. Someone who says one can is lying.
Originally Posted by Kagemusha:
To me as citizen it is much more important that the children are eating healthy food even if it costs bit more compared to eating processed crap so i can save few cents in taxes.
Of course. It's an excellent proposal of the Obama administration I wish those responsible for this 'pizza is vegetable' trick a traffic-jam in their main arteries for trying to sabotage this.To me as citizen it is much more important that the children are eating healthy food even if it costs bit more compared to eating processed crap so i can save few cents in taxes.
Originally Posted by Fragony:
Not saying it can't be organised, but you can't outprice mass-production. Someone who says one can is lying.
I actually disagree - do not overestimate the efficiency of the "big boys". Their cost for logistics and overhead can be staggering and out of proportion. I have seen enough canteens/cafeterias to feel pretty confident with the statement that the correlation between size/prize/quality is pretty much non-existant. In theory the big players should beat the "mom-and-pop shops" in reality this is not necessarily the case.Not saying it can't be organised, but you can't outprice mass-production. Someone who says one can is lying.
Putting together e.g. a proper pasta dish with a salad for prize that can compete with burgers/pizza is not unfeasible.
Originally Posted by Ser Clegane:
Putting together e.g. a proper pasta dish with a salad for prize that can compete with burgers/pizza is not unfeasible.
However, the quality needs to match. From experience, they got rid of the "good quality" food and replaced it with really poor quality processed "healthier" option.Putting together e.g. a proper pasta dish with a salad for prize that can compete with burgers/pizza is not unfeasible.
You cannot simply replace Coca-Cola with a glass of sour milk for the same price, yet that is what happened.
I think a lot of the problems with canteen food are connected to a "don't care" attitude of those who are in charge. Some dishes are more suitable for high volumes some aren't - obviously the selection also depends on the facilities (can you cook simple stuff in the same building, do you have to keep prepared food warm for a longer time).
Quality depends very much on the people in charge. The university in my home town had canteens scattered all over the place - even among those that were comparable in size the quality of the food varied massively. The canteen at the chemical faculty that I mostly went to was a great example for the level of quality and variety you can offer at such a place.
Quality depends very much on the people in charge. The university in my home town had canteens scattered all over the place - even among those that were comparable in size the quality of the food varied massively. The canteen at the chemical faculty that I mostly went to was a great example for the level of quality and variety you can offer at such a place.
THIS MEANS BEER'S A VEGETABLE TOO!!!
Huge company if 100 people eat at the same time, small school has hundreds of students, and the biggies cater hundreds if not thousands of schools.
Originally Posted by Fragony:
Huge company if 100 people eat at the same time, small school has hundreds of students, and the biggies cater hundreds if not thousands of schools.
Not sure what you are trying to say with this statement.Huge company if 100 people eat at the same time, small school has hundreds of students, and the biggies cater hundreds if not thousands of schools.
a) 100 people eating at the same time is not a huge company
b) companies also work with external caterers
c) sheer size does not automatically result in being more competitive (General Motors comes to mind)
Originally Posted by Ser Clegane:
Not sure what you are trying to say with this statement.
a) 100 people eating at the same time is not a huge company
b) companies also work with external caterers
c) sheer size does not automatically result in being more competitive (General Motors comes to mind)
For our small local hospital with 500 patients you need 40 people in the kitchen 16 hours a day (two shifts) and not a minute is lost. Each of them costs roughly 20 euro an hour. Add the goods and storage, transportation, it can't be done for the same priceNot sure what you are trying to say with this statement.
a) 100 people eating at the same time is not a huge company
b) companies also work with external caterers
c) sheer size does not automatically result in being more competitive (General Motors comes to mind)
Sorry - but what is exactly the argument that you are making?
Is the way the hospital is currently doing it not cost competitive?
If that is the case, at which point of the process would the "big boy" be more competitive and why?
If a "big boy" would be more competitive, why is the hospital not switching?
BTW, I am not sure to which extent a hospital canteen (that is obviously not just preparing lunch and where meals are not just served centrally in the cafeteria) is comparable to a school or a canteen of a company
Is the way the hospital is currently doing it not cost competitive?
If that is the case, at which point of the process would the "big boy" be more competitive and why?
If a "big boy" would be more competitive, why is the hospital not switching?
BTW, I am not sure to which extent a hospital canteen (that is obviously not just preparing lunch and where meals are not just served centrally in the cafeteria) is comparable to a school or a canteen of a company
Originally Posted by Ser Clegane:
Sorry - but what is exactly the argument you are making?
That you simply can't do it cheaper. It's all a good idea mind you, but it will be more expensive.Sorry - but what is exactly the argument you are making?
Hospital was just an example of how labour intensive preparing large amounts of food is, perhaps a poor one
Originally Posted by Fragony:
That you simply can't do it cheaper. It's all a good idea mind you, but it will be more expensive.
With the same quality? Cheaper isn't always preferable.That you simply can't do it cheaper. It's all a good idea mind you, but it will be more expensive.
Originally Posted by Fragony:
Hospital was just an example of how labour intensive preparing large amounts of food is, perhaps a poor one
As Ser said, they're creating more variety and serve longer than a canteen or school cafeteria usually do, of course that requires more people, but it also raises the quality of the service, which may be important in a hospital. And for some people this quality should be a requirement in schools as well, it sort of has to be mass produced anyway if you want to serve hundreds or thousands of people in a short timeframe but mass production isn't always the same. Using a bigger pot to make your soup fresh on the spot is not the same as filling it into tin cans for long storage etc. Yet I'd call both mass-produced.Hospital was just an example of how labour intensive preparing large amounts of food is, perhaps a poor one
'With the same quality? Cheaper isn't always preferable.'
Indeed not, but this got us here;
'That was actually the interesting thing - IIRC* the cost in that particular case that ACIN is referring to was not vene higher.'
I find that very hard to believe on such a scale
Indeed not, but this got us here;
'That was actually the interesting thing - IIRC* the cost in that particular case that ACIN is referring to was not vene higher.'
I find that very hard to believe on such a scale
Yes he is.
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