I Wonder Why No One Is Asking Herman Cain If Pizza Should Be Counted As A Vegetable For School Children From Poor Families

Thursday evening we looked at the Republicans' and their Blue Dog allies' decision to declare pizza a vegetable for school children. While Twittery wags are wondering when conservatives will also declare pepper spray a vegetable, Boulder Congressman Jared Polis pointed out, in a more serious light, that "Forcing taxpayers to subsidize unhealthy foods is absurd. The potato industry got legislators to include French fries as vegetables, and once the door was open the pizza industry jumped in and got pizza to count as a vegetable. What's next? Are twinkles vegetables too?" And, as A.P. reported, "Who needs leafy greens and carrots when pizza and french fries will do?"

The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year. These include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, putting new restrictions on sodium and boosting the use of whole grains. The legislation would block or delay all of those efforts.

The bill also would allow tomato paste on pizzas to be counted as a vegetable, as it is now. USDA had wanted to only count a half-cup of tomato paste or more as a vegetable, and a serving of pizza has less than that.

Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration's much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs. This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress.

School meals that are subsidized by the federal government must include a certain amount of vegetables, and USDA's proposal could have pushed pizza-makers and potato growers out of the school lunch business.

Piling on to the companies' opposition, some conservatives argue that the federal government shouldn't tell children what to eat. In a summary of the bill, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the changes would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations and ...provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals."

Providing "greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals" is the last thing conservative shills for AgriBusiness have on their larcenous minds. They're being paid off-- and paid off very handsomely-- to wreck the USDA regulations. USDA spokeswoman Courtney Rowe told the press that "While it's unfortunate that some members of Congress continue to put special interests ahead of the health of America's children, USDA remains committed to practical, science-based standards for school meals."

Nutrition advocate Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said Congress's proposed changes will keep schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. Children already get enough pizza and potatoes, she says. It also would slow efforts to make pizzas-- a longtime standby on school lunch lines-- healthier, with whole grain crusts and lower sodium levels.
"They are making sure that two of the biggest problems in the school lunch program, pizza and french fries, are untouched," she said.

A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. The group, called Mission: Readiness, has called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service.

"We are outraged that Congress is seriously considering language that would effectively categorize pizza as a vegetable in the school lunch program," Amy Dawson Taggart, the director of the group, said in a letter to lawmakers before the final bill was released. "It doesn't take an advanced degree in nutrition to call this a national disgrace."

One of the worst of the K Street lobbyists pushing Congress in this direction, John Bode, has donated over $100,000 of his own money to some of the most corrupt conservatives in Congress-- only to Republicans. Bode has donated heavily to right-wing PACs and to money-grubbing anti-regulatory fanatics like Saxby Chambliss (R-GA, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee), Frank Lucas (R-OK, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA, vice-chairman of the House Agriculture Committee), John Boehner (R-OH), as well as to Agriculture Committee members who are notorious for taking bribes from lobbyists-- Reid Ribble (R-WI), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), Tim Huelskamp (R-AR), Bob Gibbs (R-OH), Rick Crawford (R-AR), Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Austin Scott (R-GA), Bobby Schilling (R-IL), Scott Tipton (R-CO), Steve Southerland (R-FL), Martha Roby (R-AL), Randy Hultgren (R-IL), Marlin Stutzman (R-IN), Chris Gibson (R-NY). There are 26 Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee. Bode has greased the palms of at least 16 of them directly.

Bode gave Norm Coleman, an Agriculture Committee member, massive legalistic bribes before he was defeated for reelection

Bode has also paid off Pat Roberts (R-KS), the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee as well as Agriculture Committee members Dick Lugar (R-IN), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Miss McConnell (R-KY), and Thad Cochran (R-MS), half the Republicans on the committee.

On top of that Bode's sleazy lobbying firm, Olsson, Frank & Weeda, reports spending $1,370,000 on lobbying this year alone. Last year they spent $2,440,000, approximately what they have spent every year since 2006. Yesterday the Second Alarm exposed Bode publicly.

Schwan Foods couldn't use "Arbeit macht frei" in their school foods division logo

Meet John Bode, the man with the magic to turn pizza into a federally subsidized vegetable for our children to enjoy.

According to lobbying reports obtained by The Second Alarm, Bode was the point man for Schwan Foods, the largest maker of frozen pizzas purchased by federally-subsidized school programs, in forcing to qualify pizza as a nutritious vegetable. Bode, a revolving door staffer from the USDA and Congress, was contracted by Schwan Foods to lobby Congress on proposed school lunch food standards in the latest appropriations bill. See a copy of Bode’s lobbying report here.

Schwan Foods is also a contributing member of two trade associations that lobbied on the bill. The “Frozen Food Institute” and the “Coalition for Sustainable School Meal Programs” received cash from industrial food corporations to lobby heavily on the bill. The Frozen Food Institute might have a funny sounding name, but the group runs on a $4.6 million operating budget. That’s serious lobbying firepower, and its only part of the influence operation by industrial food producers with skin in the school lunch game.

Brett Neely, a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio, has an astonishing report on the efforts by companies like Schwan Foods and ConAgra, the massive agribiz conglomerate that makes the stuff that goes into mass-produced frozen pizzas. ConAgra’s lobbying team is robust, and includes six different registered lobbyists (three are in-house, three are from a firm called Cornerstone Government Affairs). However, its difficult to determine which lobbyists work on issues like frozen pizzas, and which ones lobby on ConAgra’s other priorities-- like exemptions on commodity speculation rules.