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Jun 16, 2004, 12:54 AM
Feds classify french fries as fresh veggies (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-afries15jun15,0,202707.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines)
WASHINGTON · Anyone trying to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet may have just gotten an unlikely assist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Based on a little-noticed change to obscure federal rules, the USDA defines frozen french fries as "fresh vegetables."
As bizarre as it may sound, a federal judge in Texas last week endorsed the USDA's rules in a court case, saying the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous.
The USDA quietly changed the regulations last year at the behest of the french fry industry, which has spent the past five decades pushing for a revision to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (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.
WASHINGTON · Anyone trying to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet may have just gotten an unlikely assist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Based on a little-noticed change to obscure federal rules, the USDA defines frozen french fries as "fresh vegetables."
As bizarre as it may sound, a federal judge in Texas last week endorsed the USDA's rules in a court case, saying the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous.
The USDA quietly changed the regulations last year at the behest of the french fry industry, which has spent the past five decades pushing for a revision to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (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.
