the US congress says so:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/lawmakers+Pizza+sauce+vegetable/5726060/story.html

And they were doing so why?

Alas, because Ag regulations basically restricted the ability to serve pizza in school lunches to once in a blue moon. Why the federal government thinks they should regulate local school district's menus is beyond me.

Out of curiosity, in theory public education is the jurisdiction of whom in the United states?
I don't actually know how that works in theory (as opposed to in practice).

I can only speak for Canada where educational policies and curriculum (except for the fact that public education has to be free for all, and a couple of charter of rights issues relating to accessability) are governed by the province with some responsibilities delegated to municipalities as the province sees fit. Funding is also done by the province who also determines at what level school boards operate and how the boards are selected. This means that history taught in Quebec is completely different from history taught in Alberta for example.

The food issue seems odd to me because school provided meals (via provincial assistance) typically only need to be of adequate portions and comply with health and safety standards. In some cases certain schoolboards have taken the step to restrict certain items of food from being sold in schools (like pop in vending machines) but the only cases where foods are prohibited in a school have been due to widespread health concerns (severe peanut alergies = peanut product ban in a particular school).

I suppose we should just be happy that US Congress actually came to a decision about...anything?

As for the motivation for the change, I heard on the news that there was some lobbying going on from the companies that actually provide the food to a vast majority of the schools. No doubt, it was profit motivated. In the case of the pizza, only the sauce is actually considered the "vegetable" serving, but it's enough to get a highly marked up product into our schools in mass numbers.

Schilling

think they only try to regulate the places that get federal funding.
don't think pizza is a veggie though. veggies have a tendency to argue with me before i eat them.

I guess my campaign to get bacon declared a vegetable failed. Need to get my super pac off the ground, so I can buy congress over to my side next time this issue comes up.

If there's something to be pissed off about here, it's the naked expression of the power of special interest groups, and the gullibility of the populace to be swayed by those same lobbies.

The equation for congress' involvement here is pretty simple: the federal government subsidizes (pays for a portion of) school lunches for kids whose parents can't otherwise afford them (reason 1 for governmental involvement). Many of kids who receive the federal subsidy are on medicaid, so the government pays for their health care (reason 2). Obesity is endemic in this country, and leads to health issues, requiring the government to shell out more money for medicaid and medicare (reason 3).

Quick, someone call the producers of Veggie Tales. They need to know.

-Fooglmog
Guy with no clue.

if its actually tomato in the pizza sauce culinary speaking its a vegetable but botanically its a fruit

the question should probably be what it is nutritionally but i doubt theres much actual tomato on a pizza, its probably mainly bread and cheese, perhaps with some meat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_paste

http://i.imgur.com/osOgB.jpg

Gallery eating, nice.

Tomato is a fruit!

and salami too?

Your salami might be fruity, but that doesn't make it a general rule.

salami just gives you protein

more cum

schools in the US get federal funding?
does that mean that schools in the US are under federal juridiction?

what you talking about, Willis?
should be under federal jurisdiction simply because they are located in the US.

Now we can all eat lots of vegetables... also sausages are vegetables now ;)

I'm getting so frigging tired of this declaring all my favorite foods as being vegetables left and right. When will it stop? When it does stop, will there actually be anything that I can eat? I don't want to touch any of those filthy frigging vegetables!

lol

fish and bear/etc steaks aren't vegetables (i think).

tomato is biologically a fruit, hence pizza sauce is a product made from fruit.

pizza!

Indirectly, yes, they receive some funding from the federal government. And no, it does not mean they are under federal jursidiction per se--more that they have to meet requirements attached to the funding strings.

martian, US education is funding from all level of government. Federally, there is the Department of Education and the "No Child Left Behind Act", which can withhold funding from a school or district based on academic results. The majority of funding comes from the state level with local property taxes making up the remainder. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school funding was not a matter of the U.S. Constitution, so funding is left to interpretations of individual State Constitutions. Some states have state-wide curriculums, while others devolve the material covered to individual school districts.

Well, NCLB is one of a couple laws they (DoED) deals with regarding federal funding to states. There's also ESEA, IDEA, Higher Ed Act, Perkins, etc. But yah, basic gist is right regarding local schools or school districts potentially losing some funding (and qualifying for different funding and different legal mechanisms) if they fail to meet differing levels of what's known as AYP or adequate yearly progress. But it's a fairly complex formula that they've changed a dozen times over since I worked with it.

And you hit on a great point. What's interesting/unique about the US education system is the variance in curriculum.

On May 10, 1893, the US Supreme Court declared the tomato to be a vegetable for the purposes of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883.

The Tomato is the state vegetable of New Jersey and Arkansas*. It is the state fruit of Ohio (tomato juice is the state beverage) and Arkansas*.

*Declared such in the same law.

On the idea of pizza being considered a vegetable, if it's a cheese pizza (with less cheese than is normal) and maybe a topping like chicken or something similar, then I would not have a problem with it. Pizza should not be considered a vegetable per se regardless of tomato content unless it's reasonably healthy.

School pizza doesn't qualify as reasonable healthy.

does this mean that gummy strawberries are now a fruit? mmm they're tasty.

Om nom nom...


I guess gummy worms are high in protein.

"On May 10, 1893, the US Supreme Court declared the tomato to be a vegetable for the purposes of the Tariff Act of March 3, 1883."
Governments can declare anything to be anything else for purposes of tax acts. I'm guessing that there were higher tariff's applied to vegetables?:P

It doesn't change the fact that the tomato is the female reproductive organs of the plant and contains seeds (plant fetuses). Hence in botanical and functional terms it is a fruit.

:P

had 5 servings of veggies last night, mhmmmmmm never so greasy :)

Notice that the Supreme Court only ruled for the purposes of the tariff law.

Two issues here:

First, is the debate of "do we offer kids healthy food that they do not eat and then go to school hungry" or "do we offer kids food they will eat and make it as healthy as we can". So tomato is a vegetable so that we can give them pizza and have them actually eat.

But the real issue is why should the federal government be involved in this at all. There is NO Constitutional authority for federal involvement in local schools, let alone what they serve for lunch. However this is the logical carry-over evil of having a federal department of education throwing money at states and school districts.

Better would be to shut down the federal department of education and have states fund their own schools. And local school boards can deal with what to serve for lunch.

Supposedly, the Department Of Education.

As has been said above, education falls under the jurisdiction and authority of the states. The states decide exactly how much power local authorities have. The US Department of Education can only exercise authority over federal grants and subsidies to schools. School districts and states can opt to not receive federal funding and run their schools how they like.

I agree with those who think that federal funding of education should end. Let the states and local governments fund their schools. People will vote with their feet to attend the best schools in the best states if that's important to parents. We have no need for the US Department of Education.

Pizza was declared a vegatable because of lobbying. It's about equal to the Canadian law that makes it illegal for clear or non-dark sodas to contain caffeine.

Kids still will eat unhealthy, except the poorest children that receive state-funded meals. Look at the success of Jamie Oliver in getting UK schools to provide more healthy food choices and the subsequent shift away from eatting school lunches.

Most school lunches in America suck ass. When my kids start school they will brown bag it!