The U.S. potato industry has won round one of a hard-fought battle to keep spuds on school lunch menus. Last week, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved an amendment offered by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) prohibiting the use of USDA funds to implement rules that would set maximum serving limits on potatoes and several other starchy vegetables in school meal programs.

The National Potato Council expects USDA to heed concerns raised by school lunch officials, growers and others and maintain the flexibility local schools need to deliver health meal options to students, including potatoes.

The Collins-Udall amendment has yet to clear the full Senate. At Agri-View's Monday press deadline, it was part of a larger appropriations bill still pending in that chamber of Congress. Once, however, the appropriations bill is reported from the Senate, it's expected to be conferenced with the House Ag Appropriations bill in coming weeks.

While the Senate version contains stronger statutory language on the issue of keeping potatoes in school lunches, the House bill contained report language recommending USDA rewrite its proposed school meal plan in a cost-neutral fashion. When the Senate bill is ultimately passed, as NPC expects it will, both House and Senate versions "will provide an important platform for remedial language in the final bill," according to the Council.

NPC commissioned national surveys of school food service directors and used model school menus and research to support its efforts to remove serving limits on potatoes. The Council maintained that potatoes are healthy for children, being a powerhouse of two of the four most important nutrients deficient in kids' diets-potassium and fiber.

As reported last week in Agri-View, the potato industry also argues that 80 percent of the potatoes served in schools today are baked, boiled or mash-not fried. Further, NPC highlighted that potatoes on school menus actually lead to higher consumption of vegetables by students too.

Further, NPC reports that kids aren't overeating potatoes either in or out of schools. According to a national health and nutrition survey, U.S. children get less than one percent of their calories from white potatoes in any form from school cafeterias.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Milwaukee) cosponsored the amendment to protect potatoes in school lunchrooms from the USDA proposal. He says the "regulation it blocks could do significant damage to Wisconsin's farm sector. Tens of thousands of jobs depend on potato growing...It would be a serious mistake for the Obama Administration to push through a regulation like this one, which is not only unnecessary bt would hurt the state's economy as well."

"The Department of Agriculture should not be dictating to America's schools and school districts the contents of their daily menus. I think we can trust local districts, and state Departments of Education, to make those decisions. If the Administration believes that bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. care more about nutrition for our students than principals and school boards, they ought to explain why," Johnson blasts.

"This new regulation will cost school districts $6.8 billion over the next five years. If the President is concerned that strapped districts are being forced to lay off staff to make ends meet, cancelling this costly and misguided regulation would be a good place to start," he adds.

In addition to harming Wisconsin's economy, the proposed USDA rule is not supported by science, he contends. The 2010 USDA dietary guidelines recommend that students eat more-not less-starchy vegetables.

Meantime, the U.S. Potato Board (USPB) has released the 2011 edition of the potato nutrition handbook. This new edition contains 62 pages of all-things-potato, with in-depth nutrition research as the anchoring information. New additions include both USPB-commissioned and non-commissioned research which serve to fortify the following sections: Resistant starch, antioxidant profiles, Glycemic Index, satiety and weight management, Type 2 Diabetes and Potatoes in the American Diet. The book continues to give an overview of potato history, buying and storage, potato types, and even trends in foodservice. A selection of potato recipes is also included.

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