The Associated Press reports that the Institute of Medicine, "the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences recommended that the U.S. Department of Agriculture stop participants of the federal Women, Infants, and Children program, known as WIC, from buying potatoes with federal dollars."
Consequently, an interim rule bars WIC participants from buying potatoes and next year a final rule on the WIC program will be implemented. WIC served 9.3 million children and pregnant and breast-feeding women considered at risk for malnutrition last year.
The Institute of Medicine also recommended that the national school lunch program limit the use of potatoes. Christine Stencel, spokeswoman for the Institute, said that the recommendation was "made to encourage consumption of other fruits and vegetables" and that "consumption of white potatoes was already adequate."
Some potato growers oppose this decision, noting that "potatoes have more potassium than bananas, and that one serving provides roughly 45 percent of the daily recommended value for vitamin C" along with fiber and other minerals and vitamins.
One Washington Grower is "in the midst of a 60-day, all potato diet to demonstrate that potatoes are nutritious."
To read the Associated Press story, click here.
Posted: 9/20/2010

Search This Blog
Content Areas
- Administrative Law (36)
- Agricultural Economics (184)
- Agritourism (30)
- Alternative Dispute Resolution (17)
- Animal Feeding Operations (136)
- Animal Identification (26)
- Animal Law (39)
- Animal Welfare (158)
- Announcement (259)
- Antitrust (1)
- Aquaculture (42)
- Bankruptcy (15)
- Biosecurity (32)
- Biotechnology (132)
- Blogs (18)
- Business Organizations (1)
- Checkoff Programs (11)
- Clean Air Act (5)
- Clean Water Act (113)
- Climate Change (147)
- Commercial Transactions (24)
- Commodity Programs (94)
- Congress (310)
- Conservation Programs (77)
- Cooperatives (16)
- Corporate Farming Laws (11)
- Country of Origin Labeling (43)
- Crop Insurance (92)
- Disaster Assistance Programs (17)
- Drought (24)
- Endangered Species Act (11)
- Environmental Law (268)
- EPA (139)
- Estate Planning and Taxation (28)
- Farm Bill (202)
- FDA (97)
- Finance and Credit (76)
- Food Labeling (176)
- Food Law (162)
- Food Safety (373)
- Food Security (18)
- Forestry (26)
- GIPSA (12)
- Hemp (11)
- House Agriculture Committee (17)
- Immigration (10)
- International Law and Organizations (175)
- International Trade (234)
- Labor (57)
- Landowner Liability (38)
- Leases (13)
- Local Food Systems (88)
- Marketing Orders (18)
- NALC Resource (20)
- NASDA (2)
- National Organic Program (42)
- Nutrition Programs (118)
- Packers and Stockyards Act (30)
- Perishable Agricultural Commodities (27)
- Pesticides (70)
- Production Contracts (19)
- Renewable Energy (185)
- Research (16)
- Right to Farm (13)
- Rural Development (111)
- Secured Transactions (12)
- Senate Ag Committee (20)
- Specialty Crops (30)
- Sustainable Agriculture (106)
- Urbanization and Agriculture (46)
- USDA (600)
- USDA HWFRCP (8)
- Water Law (136)
Related Blogs
- AgMag by the EWG
- Agricultural Law - The official blog of the AALS section on agricultural law
- AgWired
- Animal ID Systems
- Arkansas Electric Energy Law Blog
- Beginning Farmers
- Blog for Rural America
- Blogiculture
- Corn Commentary
- Dairy Cast
- DTN Ag Policy Blog
- DTN's Minding Ag’s Business
- eXtension's Blog
- Farm Aid
- Farm Future's D.C. Dialogue by Jacqui Fatka
- Farm Future's This Business of Farming Blog by Mike Wilson
- Farmer-Veteran Coalition
- FarmersReport.com
- FarmPolicy.com
- Food-Label-Compliance.com
- InfoFarm: The National Ag Library's Blog
- Iowa Farmers Union
- Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture & Natural Resource Law's Blog
- Marketmaker's
- Marler Blog
- Nebraska Corn Kernels
- Obama Foodorama
- Ohio Agricultural Law Blog
- Oklahoma Agriculture Blog
- Rincker Law's Agriculture Blog
- Southeast AgNET
- The Farm Gate
- The Rural Blog
- The Westerner
- U.S. Food Policy
- Washington View
- What to Eat
