In these days of low approval ratings for the U.S. Congress it’s no surprise that our government representatives have been getting hammered in the press for the recent school lunch legislation passed earlier this month. Specifically, the lawmakers came under fire for the bill’s designation of pizza as a vegetable.

Congress has since been pilloried in all media, with political pundits, late night talk show hosts and Saturday Night Live all taking shots at the pizza-as-vegetable concept.

Right off the bat we should clear something up. The bill does not really declare pizza to be a vegetable. The debate over school lunch guidelines between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Congress was really about potatoes, sodium and tomato paste.



The USDA, supported by the efforts of first lady Michelle Obama and her fight against childhood obesity, proposed new limitations on the use of potatoes on the school lunch line and a reduction in sodium content. The Obama administration also pushed for the serving of more whole grains. Congress effectively blocked or delayed all of those efforts.

In addition, the USDA sought to impose this new stipulation: “Schools would not be allowed to credit a volume of fruits or vegetables that is more than the actual serving size.” In other words, to qualify as a half-cup serving of vegetables, it actually must be a half-cup serving. Seems reasonable, right?

Well, not to the pizza lobby. They pushed lawmakers to continue the guideline that currently gives tomato paste outsized credit. One-eighth of a cup counts as a half cup serving of vegetables–essentially something four times larger.

This then became shorthand in the media as “Congress says pizza is a vegetable.” Okay, not exactly. But what the bill is saying is those couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce on a pizza will still count as a half-cup of vegetables.

This makes it simpler and cheaper for frozen pizza manufacturers, a mega-major supplier to school cafeterias, to qualify for the school lunch program.

The Obama administration guidelines, outlined last January, would have disallowed tomato paste’s extra credit, counting a half cup as a half cup. You’re not going to find a half-cup of tomato sauce on a slice of pizza.

Congress nixed that change. An eighth-cup of tomato paste will still get credited as a half-cup. It’s not saying pizza is a vegetable, it’s saying an eighth-cup of tomato paste (such as that schmear on a pizza) counts as a half-cup of veggies on the school lunch program.

School lunches that are subsidized by the federal government still require no more than one-third of daily recommended value in calories, and fat content must be less than 30 percent. These regulations have been in place for years.

However, according to a 2007 USDA audit, only about 20 percent of schools served meals that met federal guidelines for fat content. Hopefully it’s gotten better in recent years.

The whole “pizza is a vegetable” scenario reminded many of the Reagan-era school lunch controversy around “ketchup as a vegetable,” perceived by some as favoring business interests over children’s health.

The reality is the USDA and Obama administration lost this round to those who want to see fewer government regulations, those who are tired of what they perceive as the growing “nanny state,” of the federal government telling us what we can or cannot do, or can or cannot eat. In this anti-government climate, the result is not all that surprising.

While pizza is not and will never be a vegetable, it still counts as a half-cup serving of them according to federal school lunch guidelines, thanks to that one-eighth cup of tomato sauce on that slice of pepperoni.

KIDS WANT CANDY - GIVE THEM A HEALTHY CHOICE

Indie Candy
naturally gourmet sweets

Indie Candy specializes in gourmet candies that are naturally allergen free. We create our own confections in-house as well as carrying the best of the allergen free candies currently on the market, particularly those from independent makers. Since I have a serious gluten intolerance and a less serious, but no less annoying, intolerance to milk and soy plus a child with multiple food allergies/sensitivities, I am my own customer. That means that I strive to create the most delicious products available because I am the one eating them!

All of our products are free of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives. A 2007 study in the Lancet showed that certain food dyes can create a hyperactive response in otherwise normal children. That study and others prompted the EU and most other industrialized nations to require food companies to eliminate certain food dyes from the food supply. We take it one step further and make delicious and beautiful candy only with fruit, vegetable and spice extracts instead of artificial colors and flavors. We use the Feingold Diet program as a guideline for our products which means that the candies are also free of TBHQ, BHT and BHA as well as no artificial colors and flavors.

Our commitment is to provide the best tasting and most thoughtfully produced candies available, regardless of dietary restriction. Our in house artisan candies are free of Big 8 allergens: eggs, peanuts, treenuts, wheat, soy, dairy, fish and shellfish. There are no Big 8 allergens in the kitchen at all. We carry candies that are suitable for a variety of special diets - GFCFSF, vegan and Feingold friendly - to name a few. The ingredients in our house made products are all Kosher certified. Also, the majority of our ingredients are organic.

Please email us at indiecandy@gmail.com if you have any questions or suggestions.

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Our retail store is located in Mountain Brook, Alabama in the heart of Crestline.
If you are in town, please drop by!

Our seasonal candies are also available at Whole Foods in the Southeast, Navan Foods, Squirrel's Nest and naturalcandystore.com.

Indie Candy
73 Church Street
Mountain Brook, AL 35213
Open Monday - Saturday from 10am to 6pm
205-835-0094