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Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Wednesday June 16, 2004
The Guardian
Think of fresh vegetables and you think of fields of crops, or perhaps rows of supermarket shelves brimming with luscious, colourful variety.
But thanks to the US department of agriculture, American consumers will no longer have to bother with such healthy fare. A little-noticed ruling by the department reclassifies french fries as fresh vegetables.
Arguing that the process of coating or battering a vegetable does not change the end product, the department has ruled that a chip is as fresh as, and indeed not that different from, a waxed lemon.
The change, introduced last year after pressure from the US chip industry, will come as a relief to parents who weary of the daily battle to persuade their offspring to eat fresh vegetables.
The ruling came to light this week after a Texas judge ruled against a lawyer who challenged the reclassification on behalf of a bankrupt vegetable distributor. The judge, Richard Schell, agreed with the agriculture department that the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous.
Re: USA: "So you want fresh veg? Grab a carton of chips"
Don`t forget, the Reagan administration attempted to get tomato ketchup reclassified as a vegetable for the purposes of slashing the budget on state supported school dinners.
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