Fresh Frozen French Fries

Last night I went to Outback Steakhouse and had a big plate of greasy cheese fries. At the time I didn't realize that I was actually feasting on a plate of fresh vegetables, but apparently I was because the USDA has succumbed to lobbying from the food industry and decided to reclassify frozen french fries as fresh vegetables. This seems up there with the EU's decision to reclassify carrots as a kind of fruit (yeah, I know, there was some twisted logic to the EU's decision because the Portuguese use carrots to make jam and anything you make jam out of must be a fruit... or something like that). According to the USDA's 'batter-coating rule', "rolling potato slices in a starch coating, frying them and freezing them is the equivalent of waxing a cucumber or sweetening a strawberry" (as the Sun-Sentinel puts it). I think this is a case of politics and big business coming together to fashion their own bizarre, alternative reality.

Food

Posted on Wed Jun 16, 2004


Comments

Rofl! That's so stupid! 🐛 Hahahah....why in the world would they do something like this? They just randomly decide to label fries as vegies? Or is it a plot to encourage ppl to eat fattening fries by naming them vegies....lol. Such confused reasoning is here. Maybe it's just on some weird fancy of the USDA to have a little fun with their powers of "labellling." I don't really see how it could be a case of "politics or big business," but then again i could very well be wrong...Extremely weird, but interesting read. :lol:
Posted by Fuzzums Wuzzums  on  Thu Jun 17, 2004  at  01:01 AM
Ehehehe
We portuguese are very inventive and we are everywhere making damages, now you there, because of us, have a new fruit!!!!
Everything is getting crazier all the time!
XeerZ
Posted by sakeb  on  Thu Jun 17, 2004  at  05:45 AM
Looks like this wasn't even a labelling issue, but an arguement over an obscure point in bankruptcy law. A law intended to protect small farmers required that a company that goes bankrupt must pay off everyone who sold them fresh fruit in full. I think that law's outlived its usefullness - but if the same company was responsible for growing and processing the potatoes, their reasoning actually makes sense. At least for purposes of bankruptcy law - I don't think this ruling applies to much else.
Posted by Matt  on  Thu Jun 17, 2004  at  07:31 AM
There may be some nutritional reason for classifying frozen food as "fresh".

Recent studies have shown that vegetable frozen soon after being picked are healthier and better for you than canned or even "fresh" vegetables from your grocer.

The time it takes to transport vegetables and methods of storing them in a non-frozen state rob them of their nutritional value.
Posted by Bill Stroud  on  Thu Jun 17, 2004  at  04:11 PM
Its all one big conspricy. The goverment wants you to buy more french fries because all those fast food places are going insane with all the dumb lawsuits and people bitching about how fastfood is bad for you. By calling it a fresh vegitable they are trying to trick you into buying more because people might reason since that it is a vegitable it is good for you. But nothing that has been smoothered in greese and deepfried is really good for you.
Posted by Wes Rains  on  Thu Jun 17, 2004  at  09:54 PM
It's no worse than that island in the EU (I can't remember the exact location) a few years ago that lost island status because a bridge was finally built.
Posted by Bob S. Yunkle  on  Fri Jun 18, 2004  at  12:28 PM
Same with turkey. As long as a turkey is kept over 0 degrees farenheit, 'turkey people' are allowed to call it fresh turkey. Mind you that the freezing temperature of poultry is somewhere between 24-29 degrees. I can't quite remember which.

Source- Uncle John's Absolutely Absorbent Bathroom Reader
Posted by Casey W.  on  Fri Jun 18, 2004  at  12:44 PM
next to "actual" fresh, frozen is the best way to go. additionally, if you were at Outback, you were indeed eating fresh cut potatoes. as a former employee, i know that Outback cuts their own fries in house. i'm not saying they were good for you, but they were fresh.
Posted by chris sumner  on  Sat Jun 26, 2004  at  08:40 PM
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