{"id":2209347,"date":"2024-03-29T17:24:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hashing-it-out-bipartisan-group-of-senators-say-potatoes-are-vegetables-not-grains\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T17:24:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T21:24:24","slug":"hashing-it-out-bipartisan-group-of-senators-say-potatoes-are-vegetables-not-grains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hashing-it-out-bipartisan-group-of-senators-say-potatoes-are-vegetables-not-grains\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging into the details: Senators from both parties agree that potatoes should be classified as vegetables, not grains"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhashing-it-out-bipartisan-group-of-senators-say-potatoes-are-vegetables-not-grains%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2209347&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A bipartisan group of 14 senators, led by Sens. Susan Collins \u200band Michael Bennet, are advocating for potatoes to be classified as vegetables, not grains. They emphasized that potatoes provide essential nutrients like potassium, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and fiber. Despite differing expert opinions on potato consumption,\u2062 the senators argue that potatoes should retain their vegetable \u200dstatus based on their nutritional value.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Potatoes are not a grain, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bipartisanship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Agriculture\">bipartisan<\/a> group of 14 senators who want the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/agriculture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Agriculture\">Agriculture<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hhs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Agriculture\">Health and Human Services<\/a> departments to continue classifying the starchy spud as a vegetable.<\/p>\n<p>Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) penned a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collins.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/collins-bennet_letter_-_reclassification_of_potatoes.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>letter<\/a> to the government agencies on Tuesday demanding that potatoes remain a vegetable as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee prepares to implement new diet guidelines in 2025. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the inception of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), it has classified potatoes correctly as a vegetable,\u201d they wrote. \u201cUnlike grains, white potatoes are strong contributors of potassium, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and fiber.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Experts say that potatoes should not count toward a person\u2019s vegetable intake because they are high in starch carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar levels to spike. A 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/data-products\/chart-gallery\/gallery\/chart-detail\/?chartId=58340\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>study<\/a> found the most consumed food in the United States was the potato, though it revealed most people eat potatoes in processed or frozen form. <\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the senators dug up their own data, pointing to a 2013 National Library of Medicine <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23674809\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>study<\/a> that shows potatoes are a critical source of nutrients. <\/p>\n<p>Collins and Bennet also say the change would harm the farming industry and confuse consumers and the supply chain as a whole. <\/p>\n<p>In Maine, potato farming contributes $540 million annually to the state\u2019s economy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maine.gov\/labor\/docs\/2023\/mwaw\/MaineAgOverview9_23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>according<\/a> to Maine\u2019s Department of Agriculture. <\/p>\n<p>The senators are also contending that reclassifying the potato as a grain would negatively affect schools already struggling to meet the vegetable consumption standards, arguing in their letter that potatoes are a more affordable vegetable. <\/p>\n<p>While senators spar with government officials over the status of the spud, a coalition within the grain industry told the advisory committee that replacing grains with a starchy alternative could fry up problems and lead to nutrient deficiencies, the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/arts-culture\/food-cooking\/are-potatoes-a-vegetable-eabd597c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/?utm_source=google&#038;utm_medium=cpc&#038;utm_campaign=WE_Search_Brand-Keyword_2024&#038;gad_source=1&#038;gclid=Cj0KCQjwzZmwBhD8ARIsAH4v1gWVQjABecyKyd_wGO4ibc7ZgzynJnO3y5q8LEDmAqguDixICnJmFaoaAobREALw_wcB\" title=\"CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kam Quarles, the CEO of the National Potato Council, addressed the spud\u2019s controversy at a hearing in September, NewsNation reported.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile NPC is sensitive to individual needs and cultures, we urge the Committee to recognize a potato is not a grain,\u201d Quarles said in defense. \u201cPotatoes are the most widely produced vegetable in the U.S.,\u201d \u201cThe suggestion to reclassify potatoes as a non-vegetable is not grounded in any scientific metric. Instead, it apparently involves arbitrary preferences of meal substitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bipartisan group of 14 senators, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Michael Bennet (D-CO), has urged the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments to maintain potatoes&#8217; classification as vegetables, not grains. In a joint letter on Tuesday, they emphasized the importance of keeping the starchy spud in its rightful category<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2669,"featured_media":2209348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP21083576499077.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP21083576499077.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2669"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}