GLEED, Wash. (AP) — Potato growers say the spud is being unfairly singled out by healthy food advocates.
After a recommendation by the Institute of Medicine, the federal Women, Infants and Children program OK’d an interim rule that bars participants from buying potatoes with their federal dollars. Potatoes are the only vegetable not allowed.
The institute, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, also has recommended that the U.S. Department of Agriculture-backed school lunch program limit use of potatoes.
Chris Voight, who heads the Washington Potato Commission, is so exasperated by the proposals that he’s in the midst of a 60-day, all potato diet to demonstrate that potatoes are nutritious.
Potatoes have plenty of potassium and vitamin C, but they also are loaded with carbohydrates.
