GRAND FORKS, MN – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to change the nutritional guidelines for the school lunch program that would restrict students to just one cup of certain vegetables per week. These vegetables include peas, lima beans, corn, and potatoes! Not one cup of each per week, but one cup total of any combination of these vegetables per week!
The Northern Plains Potato Growers Association (NPPGA) based in East Grand Forks, MN which represents the potato industry in North Dakota and northwest Minnesota believes that the health of our nation’s children is a top priority and applauds efforts to improve children’s nutrition. However, recommendations to reduce vegetables such as potatoes, corn, and peas as outlined in the USDA’s proposed rule on Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs could have adverse effects on children’s health.
“Potatoes are a nutrient-rich vegetable,” says Dr. Katherine Beals who is a nutrition professor at the University of Utah. “Potatoes provide two of the four nutrients of concern for children – potassium and fiber. We need to help kids get more of these vital nutrients in their diets or they could face serious long-term health consequences.”
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee identified potassium and fiber as nutrients of concern for children. However, the USDA is recommending limiting the availability of a vegetable that not only provides these essential nutrients in a calorie-efficient package, but potatoes are a vegetable that children actually want to eat.
A recent menu modeling analysis shows that if potatoes are offered in the school lunch meal plan four days a week, the requirements of the Dietary Guidelines are met and the intake of potassium is superior to the level in the proposed rule. Also, the analysis shows that eating potatoes at breakfast means more vegetables for kids.
Beals encourages the USDA to not limit potatoes on school menus to ensure children are meeting daily vegetable and nutrient needs. She noted:
- A medium-sized serving of oven-baked French fries provides more potassium than a medium banana and as much fiber as spinach – and baked potatoes offer even more potassium and fiber.
- Potatoes are packed with other vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, vitamin B6, folate, manganese, niacin and phosphorus.
John Keeling, chief executive officer of the National Potato Council, says the industry appreciates and supports all that the USDA has done and does to improve school meals, but if the proposed guidelines are implemented they could have serious unintended consequences that would reduce rather than advance vegetable consumption.
Ted Kreis, Marketing and Communications Director at NPPGA says, “The proposed changes to the school lunch program will also have financial consequences. It is estimated that the new guidelines will cost school districts an additional 23 percent for breakfasts and 9 percent for lunches, which will add unneeded costs to already financially strapped school districts. The potato is a nutritional bargain.”
Kreis urges anyone that is concerned about these proposed changes to contact the USDA and also your representatives and senators in Washington. “Go to www.nppga.org to find links that will easily get your comments to Washington.”
Source: Northern Plains Potato Growers Association
