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http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0406150244jun15.story

 

Calling fries fresh veggies half-baked, critics argue

 

By Andrew Martin

Washington Bureau

 

June 15, 2004

 

 

 

WASHINGTON -- French fries may be the bane of low-carb diets and obesity foes,

but the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a federal judge in Texas have another

name for the popular food: fresh vegetable.

 

U.S. District Judge Richard Schell last week endorsed little-noticed changes by

the USDA to federal regulations that govern what defines a fresh vegetable. The

changes were made at the behest of the french-fry industry, which has spent the

past five decades pushing for revisions to the Perishable Agricultural

Commodities Act.

 

Known as PACA, the law was passed by Congress in 1930 to protect fruit and

vegetable farmers in the event that their customers went out of business without

paying for their produce.

 

Under an obscure USDA rule, most frozen french fries have been considered fresh

vegetables since 1996. Now they all are, under a revision last year that added

batter-coated, frozen french fries to the list of fresh produce.

 

In his ruling last week in a lawsuit that challenged the designation, Schell

sided with the USDA argument that the PACA law is so ambiguous on the definition

of fresh fruits and vegetables that it should be left to the agency to define

what it means.

 

The Frozen Potato Products Institute appealed to the USDA in 2000 to change its

definition of fresh produce under the law to include batter-coated, frozen

french fries, arguing that rolling potato slices in a starch coating, frying

them and freezing them is the equivalent of waxing a cucumber or sweetening a

strawberry.

 

The USDA agreed and, on June 2, 2003, amended its PACA rules to include what is

described in court documents as the " Batter-Coating Rule. "

 

Tim Elliott, a Chicago attorney who recently challenged the revision in a Texas

federal courtroom on behalf of a bankrupt food distributor, said defining french

fries as fresh vegetables defies common sense.

 

" I find it pretty outrageous, really, " said Elliott, who argues that the

Batter-Coating Rule is so vague that chocolate-covered cherries, packed in a

candy box, would qualify as fresh fruit.

 

" This is something that only lawyers could do, " he said, pointing to a stack of

legal documents debating the french-fry rule change.

 

" There must be 100 pages there about something you could summarize in one

paragraph: batter-coated french fries are not fresh vegetables. "

 

Among the documents cited in the lawsuit is a patent from french-fry maker Lamb

Weston on how to make batter-coated fries, including direction that the potatoes

be coated with an " aqueous starch enrobing slurry. "

 

" Fresh vegetables are not typically associated with `aqueous starch enrobing

slurries,' " Elliott wrote in court documents.

 

However, in a ruling released last week, Schell sided with the USDA.

 

" PACA does not define the term `fresh vegetables,' " the judge wrote.

 

" Instead, PACA ambiguously states that `fresh fruits and vegetables of every

kind and character' are perishable agriculture commodities. "

 

The french-fry rule calls to mind the USDA's attempt in 1981 to classify ketchup

and pickle relish as vegetables, an idea that was dropped amid public protests.

 

The latest revision was made last year at a time when the reputation of french

fries had been under siege.

 

Loaded with fat and carbohydrates, french fries have been targeted by low-carb

diet plans as a snack to avoid and blamed for contributing to America's

expanding waistline.

 

About the same time, the USDA launched a revision of its Food Guide Pyramid for

the first time since it was unveiled in 1992. While the final nutrition

guidelines will not be released until early next year, USDA officials already

have said they plan to emphasize that Americans should eat more fruits and

vegetables.

 

But John Webster, spokesman for the agency's Center for Nutrition Policy and

Promotion, said french fries--though already considered a vegetable serving in

the Food Guide Pyramid--are not what his agency has in mind.

 

" The vegetables we are talking about encouraging the consumption of are dark

green vegetables like broccoli and orange and yellow vegetables like squash, " he

said.

 

The USDA officials who oversee the PACA said french fries were considered a

fresh vegetable because the statute only defined fruits and vegetables in two

ways: fresh or processed.

 

" They fall into the category of fresh because they are not processed, " said

agency spokesman George Chartier. " They are not transformed in the sense of

being cooked. "

 

Though a USDA news release announcing the revision says caramel-coated apples

also will be considered fresh fruit under the Batter-Coating Rule, officials say

the gooey treats would not be included because coating it changes the character

of the fruit and makes it a candy.

 

Frying and battering potato strips, however, does not change the character of a

potato, they argued.

 

Meir Stampfer, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health,

said it " boggles the mind " that the USDA would label french fries a fresh

vegetable because most commercial fries are fried in oil laden with

heart-clogging trans fat.

 

Stampfer said the revision reaffirms his belief that nutritional advice should

be moved out of the USDA to an agency specifically concerned with public health,

an idea that is being promoted by several members of Congress.

 

While lumping french fries and fresh vegetables in the same sentence might

horrify some nutritionists, the changes had more to do with money than healthy

eating.

 

Under PACA, producers of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables essentially are

guaranteed payment for their produce, even if a grocery store, wholesaler or

restaurant chain files for bankruptcy.

 

The implications of the change are potentially huge for the french-fry industry,

which includes such food giants as J.R. Simplot, Lamb Weston and Ore-Ida.

 

Potatoes are the largest-selling vegetable in the U.S. The average American eats

more than 140 pounds of potatoes a year, about one-third of which is frozen

french fries.

 

About a quarter of all french fries produced are coated with batter, a process

that helps preserve the fries' crispness and color while under heat lamps.

 

How batter-coated fries came to be defined as a fresh vegetable has to do with

the language in the original law, which gave the USDA discretion to define

" fresh fruits and vegetables of every kind and character. "

 

Since then, the USDA has ruled that produce that is frozen or packed in ice

qualifies for PACA protections. So do fruits and vegetables that have been

steamed, blanched, gassed, colored, cured, peeled and waxed, among other things,

as long as the produce has not been " manufactured into articles of a different

kind of character. "

 

USDA officials had ruled previously that french fries were not covered by PACA

because they were cooked or processed. But industry perseverance paid off in

1996, when USDA ruled produce that is " oil blanched " would be covered.

 

In 2000, the Frozen Potato Products Institute obtained an advisory opinion from

the USDA saying that batter-coated french fries, given their increasing

popularity, should be considered fresh vegetables too. At the potato institute's

urging, the USDA made its opinion an official regulation last year.

2004, Chicago Tribune

 

 

 

 

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'Lo, Brien!

 

It is so obvious that fried potatoes are not fresh that I wonder why

all the brew-ha-ha. Why the long-winded article? Anyone interested in

eating fresh fruits and vegetables knows that a cooked vegetable or

fruit is not a fresh one. Anyone interested enough in truly eating

fresh fruits and vegetables, or in their children eating fresh fruits

and vegetables, will not be taken in by what the lawyers and the

government have done.

 

Best wishes,

 

Elliot

 

 

 

 

 

 

, " lobrien "

<lobrien@a...> wrote:

>

>

> http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-

0406150244jun15.story

>

> Calling fries fresh veggies half-baked, critics argue

>

> By Andrew Martin

> Washington Bureau

>

> June 15, 2004

>

>

>

> WASHINGTON -- French fries may be the bane of low-carb diets and

obesity foes, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a federal

judge in Texas have another name for the popular food: fresh

vegetable.

>

> U.S. District Judge Richard Schell last week endorsed little-

noticed changes by the USDA to federal regulations that govern what

defines a fresh vegetable. The changes were made at the behest of the

french-fry industry, which has spent the past five decades pushing

for revisions to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.

>

> Known as PACA, the law was passed by Congress in 1930 to protect

fruit and vegetable farmers in the event that their customers went

out of business without paying for their produce.

>

> Under an obscure USDA rule, most frozen french fries have been

considered fresh vegetables since 1996. Now they all are, under a

revision last year that added batter-coated, frozen french fries to

the list of fresh produce.

>

> In his ruling last week in a lawsuit that challenged the

designation, Schell sided with the USDA argument that the PACA law is

so ambiguous on the definition of fresh fruits and vegetables that it

should be left to the agency to define what it means.

>

> The Frozen Potato Products Institute appealed to the USDA in 2000

to change its definition of fresh produce under the law to include

batter-coated, frozen french fries, arguing that rolling potato

slices in a starch coating, frying them and freezing them is the

equivalent of waxing a cucumber or sweetening a strawberry.

>

> The USDA agreed and, on June 2, 2003, amended its PACA rules to

include what is described in court documents as the " Batter-Coating

Rule. "

>

> Tim Elliott, a Chicago attorney who recently challenged the

revision in a Texas federal courtroom on behalf of a bankrupt food

distributor, said defining french fries as fresh vegetables defies

common sense.

>

> " I find it pretty outrageous, really, " said Elliott, who argues

that the Batter-Coating Rule is so vague that chocolate-covered

cherries, packed in a candy box, would qualify as fresh fruit.

>

> " This is something that only lawyers could do, " he said, pointing

to a stack of legal documents debating the french-fry rule change.

>

> " There must be 100 pages there about something you could summarize

in one paragraph: batter-coated french fries are not fresh

vegetables. "

>

> Among the documents cited in the lawsuit is a patent from french-

fry maker Lamb Weston on how to make batter-coated fries, including

direction that the potatoes be coated with an " aqueous starch

enrobing slurry. "

>

> " Fresh vegetables are not typically associated with `aqueous starch

enrobing slurries,' " Elliott wrote in court documents.

>

> However, in a ruling released last week, Schell sided with the USDA.

>

> " PACA does not define the term `fresh vegetables,' " the judge wrote.

>

> " Instead, PACA ambiguously states that `fresh fruits and vegetables

of every kind and character' are perishable agriculture commodities. "

>

> The french-fry rule calls to mind the USDA's attempt in 1981 to

classify ketchup and pickle relish as vegetables, an idea that was

dropped amid public protests.

>

> The latest revision was made last year at a time when the

reputation of french fries had been under siege.

>

> Loaded with fat and carbohydrates, french fries have been targeted

by low-carb diet plans as a snack to avoid and blamed for

contributing to America's expanding waistline.

>

> About the same time, the USDA launched a revision of its Food Guide

Pyramid for the first time since it was unveiled in 1992. While the

final nutrition guidelines will not be released until early next

year, USDA officials already have said they plan to emphasize that

Americans should eat more fruits and vegetables.

>

> But John Webster, spokesman for the agency's Center for Nutrition

Policy and Promotion, said french fries--though already considered a

vegetable serving in the Food Guide Pyramid--are not what his agency

has in mind.

>

> " The vegetables we are talking about encouraging the consumption of

are dark green vegetables like broccoli and orange and yellow

vegetables like squash, " he said.

>

> The USDA officials who oversee the PACA said french fries were

considered a fresh vegetable because the statute only defined fruits

and vegetables in two ways: fresh or processed.

>

> " They fall into the category of fresh because they are not

processed, " said agency spokesman George Chartier. " They are not

transformed in the sense of being cooked. "

>

> Though a USDA news release announcing the revision says caramel-

coated apples also will be considered fresh fruit under the Batter-

Coating Rule, officials say the gooey treats would not be included

because coating it changes the character of the fruit and makes it a

candy.

>

> Frying and battering potato strips, however, does not change the

character of a potato, they argued.

>

> Meir Stampfer, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of

Public Health, said it " boggles the mind " that the USDA would label

french fries a fresh vegetable because most commercial fries are

fried in oil laden with heart-clogging trans fat.

>

> Stampfer said the revision reaffirms his belief that nutritional

advice should be moved out of the USDA to an agency specifically

concerned with public health, an idea that is being promoted by

several members of Congress.

>

> While lumping french fries and fresh vegetables in the same

sentence might horrify some nutritionists, the changes had more to do

with money than healthy eating.

>

> Under PACA, producers of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables

essentially are guaranteed payment for their produce, even if a

grocery store, wholesaler or restaurant chain files for bankruptcy.

>

> The implications of the change are potentially huge for the french-

fry industry, which includes such food giants as J.R. Simplot, Lamb

Weston and Ore-Ida.

>

> Potatoes are the largest-selling vegetable in the U.S. The average

American eats more than 140 pounds of potatoes a year, about one-

third of which is frozen french fries.

>

> About a quarter of all french fries produced are coated with

batter, a process that helps preserve the fries' crispness and color

while under heat lamps.

>

> How batter-coated fries came to be defined as a fresh vegetable has

to do with the language in the original law, which gave the USDA

discretion to define " fresh fruits and vegetables of every kind and

character. "

>

> Since then, the USDA has ruled that produce that is frozen or

packed in ice qualifies for PACA protections. So do fruits and

vegetables that have been steamed, blanched, gassed, colored, cured,

peeled and waxed, among other things, as long as the produce has not

been " manufactured into articles of a different kind of character. "

>

> USDA officials had ruled previously that french fries were not

covered by PACA because they were cooked or processed. But industry

perseverance paid off in 1996, when USDA ruled produce that is " oil

blanched " would be covered.

>

> In 2000, the Frozen Potato Products Institute obtained an advisory

opinion from the USDA saying that batter-coated french fries, given

their increasing popularity, should be considered fresh vegetables

too. At the potato institute's urging, the USDA made its opinion an

official regulation last year.

> 2004, Chicago Tribune

>

>

>

>

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