Congress passed a revised agriculture appropriations bill, which
makes it easier to count pizza sauce as one serving of
vegetables.
According to The Washington Post, tomato paste is the ingredient
that gets all of the credit for counting pizza sauce as a serving
of vegetables.
Natalie Rodakowski, a family and consumer sciences professor, is
a registered dietitian and said she compared an eighth cup of
tomato paste to a half cup of peas and found out that the tomato
paste has fewer calories, more Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium and
calcium.
"The only thing it was considerably low in was folate compared
to the peas," Rodakowski said.
She said another beneficial ingredient that is in tomato paste
is lycopene, and there is some research showing that lycopene may
reduce the risk of certain cancers.
Under school lunch regulations, an eighth of a cup of tomato
paste is credited with as much nutritional value as half a cup of
vegetables, according to The Washington Post.
The proposal was denied and tomato paste will continue to
receive more nutritional credit than it should.
"My concern is not whether we call tomato paste a vegetable,"
Rodakowski said. "I am more concerned that children are getting the
essential nutrients and I do believe that tomato paste will give
them the nutrients they need."
Mark Hudson, the director of University Housing and Dining
Services, said he thought it was weird that Congress was even
discussing the matter.
"I think Congress has more important things to worry about than
whether tomato (paste) counts as a vegetable," Hudson said. "Figure
out the national debt."
Jessica Hawks, a sophomore communication studies major, said she
thinks counting tomato sauce as a serving of vegetables is not
acceptable, especially because people lack nutritional education in
the first place.
Through the proposal schools would be crediting tomato paste on
the actual volume, not just the serving size, according to The
Washington Post.
"There are a lot of people that don't know what is healthy and
what is not, so saying that pizza sauce counts as a vegetable is
going to throw them off," Hawks said.
Kevin King, a sophomore management information systems major,
said he thinks pizza sauce should be counted as a serving because
people need to get their servings of fruits and vegetables in some
form.
"It shouldn't matter how people get their servings of fruits and
vegetables, just as long as they are getting them," King said.
Counting tomato sauce as a vegetable is an excuse for people to
eat pizza, which will not be beneficial at all, Hawks said.
"If you tell people tomato sauce on pizza counts as a vegetable,
they're going to eat more of it; that is contradicting the purpose
of eating vegetables in the first place," Hawks said.
Rodakowski said it is not the tomato paste that is making the
pizza bad for you, but the cheese, toppings and the crust.
"It is giving children and parents the perception that pizza is
healthy for you," Rodakowski said.
Jenny Niewiarowski, a sophomore communication studies major,
said she does not see why tomato sauce should not be counted as a
vegetable.
"It's tomatoes in a different form, I think any form of a
vegetable should count as a serving," Niewiarowski said.
Hawks said if tomato sauce on a pizza is going to count as a
serving of vegetables then they should evaluate other foods
too.
"If we make exceptions for foods that are actually not a
vegetable, where will we draw the line?" Rodakowski said.
Emily Pellegrine can be reached
at elpellegrine@eiu.edu or 581-2812.