UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (USDA) ANNOUNCES INTENT TO KEEP THE POTATO CLASSIFIED AS A VEGETABLE

To formally relate the good news, USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack personally called U.S. Senator Susan Collins to report that the USDA is officially supporting the classification of the potato as a vegetable. Previously, Senator Collins and Senator Michael Bennett led a bipartisan letter opposing changes in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) calling for the reclassification of the potato as a grain or allowing the potato to be interchangeably classified as a vegetable or a grain. In the letter, it was expressed that reclassifying potatoes would falsely project that the USDA deemed potatoes unhealthy, while in reality they are a healthy, affordable, versatile, and stable food source. She expressed pleasure in USDA Secretary Vilsack’s personal notification supporting potato’s classification as a vegetable and urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to follow suit in recognizing their classification as a vegetable.

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