As pundits and the public lampooned new federal regulations that seem to classify pizza as a vegetable, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro explained that she voted for the whole menu rather than protest one of the ingredients.
An agricultural appropriations bill passed by the House of Representatives last week included changes to school lunch standards that the Obama administration put in earlier this year. One important change: an eighth of a cup of tomato paste will continue to be classified as the equivalent of half a cup of fruits or vegetables.
The fact that that eighth of a cup of tomato paste might come as a part of a slice of pizza led people to conclude that Congress effectively declared pizza a vegetable. (The Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff explains that it’s not quite that simple.)
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee called the changes — which had been requested by frozen pizza companies, salt producers, and potato growers — an attempt to avoid “overly burdensome and costly regulations and to provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals.”
DeLauro, who has been an outspoken advocate of measures to encourage healthful eating, nevertheless voted for the bill. In an emailed statement Monday, she explained why:
“The Agriculture Appropriations bill passed last week represented a marked improvement over House bill passed by the Majority party in June. Significant steps forward were made in adequately funding America’s fundamental nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. However, other portions of this bill leave much to be desired — in particular, there were some ridiculous interventions in child nutrition. At a time when we are suffering from a nationwide obesity epidemic, considering pizza a vegetable and considering it paired with a side of French fries a healthy meal for children is absurd. So while I do have some concerns over this legislation, I felt that were many considerable improvements over the last iteration of this bill, particularly on the funding levels, and I voted in favor of this legislation.”