Pasta is now a vegetable in American schools under Trump guidelines

[CatWoman]

Certain kinds of pasta can be considered a vegetable for millions of public school meals, according to new rules proposed by Donald Trump's administration.

The new school guidelines released by the US Department of Agriculture last week would allow for more foods like pizza, burgers and french fries to appear on school menus as part of its sweeping revisions of a school lunch program from former First Lady Michelle Obama. Cuts to her signature policy under Barack Obama's administration — intended to reduce childhood obesity in the US — were announced on her birthday.

Among the changes are allowances for pastas made with potato, soy or other starchy vegetable-based flours to be considered as a vegetable serving.

The rules said: "Pasta made of vegetable flour may credit as a vegetable, even if the pasta is not served with another recognizable vegetable."

The agency said the rules were meant to "simplify" existing school lunch policies under the 2010's Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act. Officials said that by expanding the types of foods that qualify as a vegetable, rather than students throwing out food they don't want to eat, schools are more likely to reduce waste.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pasta-vegetable-trump-school-lunch-flour-a9301186.html?fbclid=IwAR35_nfSQ5ibD1MZnKFfinO0D036qZNXWoELHT97nPrKwkF9-ZlTGYkAkhI

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Like ketchup under Reagan

[bobbieinok]

17. Doesn't ketchup have at least tomato? Or is that just red dye?

[Wounded Bear]

20. Real ketchup is made with tomato paste...

but hey, science is amazing, you know.

[BillyBobBrilliant]

2. Pasta and Ketchup

That's what them GOP guys call Bisketty. Yum!

[TheBlackAdder]

23. I thought the Food Pyramid separated Vegetables from Grains.

.



Of course, following the food pyramid, which was created by various lobbying groups leads to insulin resistance.

.

[Mersky]

3. Pasta is caloric filler.

And pocket filler for big conglomerate lobbyists and donors. They won, and the kiddos lost.

[Wounded Bear]

21. Yep, maximum cheap, minimum nutritional value...nt

[Mersky]

22. Exactly this.

And the tRump administration ought to be ashamed of this, but probably isn’t.

[Cyrano]

4. It figures. These are people who can't tell bullshit from reality

[bdamomma]

5. so now they want children

to be unhealthy, just because we have a child in the WH (who eats nothing but junk food and does not exercise) doesn't mean we have to feed our children the same thing.

What a bastard he is really.

[kaycee22]

6. Ketchup

I'm an old lady so help me out here. Who was it that said ketchup could be considered a vegetable? So the kids could smother pasta with ketchup and count that as two servings of vegetables?

[leftieNanner]

8. Ronald Reagan

Made that delicious decision!

[MineralMan]

7. Is durham wheat not a plant?

Starchy flour made from wheat should also be a vegetable by that definition. It's a stupid definition, but there you go...

It reminds me of a package of carob-based candy. In big letter's on the wrapper it said, "Carob - Nature's Chocolate"

Carob, cocoa. One bean or another bean. Are they not both things of nature?

[leftieNanner]

9. So that means that both chocolate

and my morning coffee are vegetables. I like this plan!

My mom, in her late 80s decided that mint chip ice cream and certain M&Ms were vegetables because they were green! Go Mom!

[MineralMan]

12. See. Now you're getting it.

Vegetable foods are parts of plants. Leaves, fruits, seeds, stems, roots. Lettuce, tomatoes, beans and grains, broccoli, carrots.

So, yes, chocolate and coffee could be classed as vegetables. No problem.

People are weird, it seems to me.

[leftieNanner]

15. Well, The Orange One never uses his brain

So why would he expect anyone else to?

I am hoping that all of his life's consequences, that have never caught up with him so far, dump on him in one glorious and spectacular heap!

Enjoy your Tuesday MM!

[Tanuki]

28. If a kid ate a rubber eraser, that would be a vegetable serving, too, I suppose

since it came from a rubber plant!

[MineralMan]

33. Good question. Depends on whether it's

natural or synthetic rubber, I think.

[mercuryblues]

14. I like your Mom

Tell her, as a general rule, the greener a vegetable is the higher the fiber content.

I had chips for lunch, potatoes are vegetables therefor I had vegetables for lunch.

[leftieNanner]

16. My dad used to go on weird diets

And since she hated to cook, she would eat whatever he made (turnips, carrots, potatoes for dinner - yuck). When they moved into a senior apartment building that included meals, she eschewed vegetables (except for asparagus) for the rest of her life. Sadly, she passed away in 2008, one month after Dad. They only have green M&Ms in heaven, I believe.

[Chellee]

34. If you have a soy vanilla latte,

are you actually having 3 bean soup?

[LAS14]

10. ??????? I learned in grade school that potatoes go in the "starch" or "carb" food group!!!

Soy could be a protein.

[MineralMan]

13. Yah, well food comes from either the animal or vegetable kingdom.

Beef, chicken, fish, eggs, etc. are all animal products. If something grows as a plant, its parts are vegetable products.

Potatoes are vegetables and so are beans. They sure as heck aren't animals.

[leftieNanner]

11. Well, if you put pesto on it

it's green.

This is another example of The Orange One's vindictiveness against Obama. He announced this change on Michelle's birthday.

I wish he would choke on one of his hamberders!

[Wellstone ruled]

18. So,did

Bertoli cut a few mega checks to the Rethug Campaigns. How about Lennards of Devils Lake,but he threw in also.

New School menu,Pasta with Ketchup Sauce. That's the Ticket,choice of Diet Coke at a buck or Bottle Nestle Water at 50 cents.

[SWBTATTReg]

19. Kind of like Pizza being declared a veggie too. I heard this before in the past, perhaps it's ...

true now again w/ the stupid rump rules.

[RT Atlanta]

24. Cant resist....

Pasta, and especially macaroni and cheese, has been a 'vegetable' at meat & 3s across the South for years.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

27. Go to a Hawaiian restaurant and they serve you two salads

Potato and macaroni.

[struggle4progress]

25. Trump now a vegetable under my guidelines

[handmade34]

35. I like how you think!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

26. Donald Trump's four essential food groups

Hamberders, French fries, KFC and Diet Coke.

[EleanorR]

29. Ron Offutt, huge producer of potatoes, on trump's leadership council

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-leadership-council-members-full-list-848274/

[Beartracks]

30. By "simplify" they must mean "make it so even *we* can understand." Put another way...

... Republicans think Americans are dumb as dirt, talk to Americans like they're dumb as dirt, and under-fund the education system as if Americans are dumb as dirt... and so that breeds dumb Americans who will keep voting for Republicans and their "simple" vision.

===============

[Beartracks]

31. Just trying to "stick it" to liberals and the Obamas. Nothing to do with...

... science, or with caring about children or education.

Not sure how another generation of obese, diabetic children with shorter lifespans are supposed to demonstrate that America is great again.

==============

[Ahpook]

32. So Stupid

I don't know about you guys, but school lunch sucked when I was in. We grew up vegetarian so there was absolutely nothing for me but some salad with wilted lettuce. It was hard to take a lunch if I remember. It would have been room temp by the time lunch rolled around.

Not to mention the dickhead students would throw parts of their biology projects in the buffet trays when the lunch servers were not looking. Fuck that!

[handmade34]

36. they don't care...

about children, about the environment, about good health... they are truly vile

[Blue_true]

37. Reagan classified ketsup and mustard as vegetables for school lunch purposes.

Stuff like that is why we need to get over our internal difference and never let reoublicans hold significant offices.