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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (23362)	7/8/1998 3:51:00 PM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

How can you, being so beloved, be so totally wrong, wrong, WRONG? A Tale of Two Condiments Date: 7/8/98 Remember the move in the '80s to label ketchup a vegetable? Now comes word that the Agriculture Department has given its seal of approval to salsa as a vegetable for federally funded school lunches. But guess which one is more nutritious? When the Reagan administration sought 17 years ago to put ketchup on the vegetable list, howls of protest and ridicule forced a hasty retreat. The episode took on a life of its own among the chattering classes as a model of Reagan's callousness toward the poor. Where's the outcry this time around? Salsa is at least a cousin of ketchup. Tomatoes, of course, are the chief ingredient in both products. Depending on the type, salsa also includes peppers, onions and spices. Ketchup mostly comes sweetened with corn syrup and soured with vinegar. Compare the nutritional value of the two. We did for two well-known brands. Those keeping score at home may be interested to know that the ketchup we reviewed contained 12% of the vitamin A needed in a typical daily diet as recommended by the USDA. The contents of the chunky salsa we surveyed had just 2% of daily needs. Ketchup's sweetness translates into twice the number of calories per serving as that of salsa. That means a dash of extra energy for the kids. Even ketchup's sodium levels exceed those in an equal helping of salsa. Ketchup delivers 16% of the daily sodium requirement, while salsa contains just 11%. So why not name salsa the new champion empty vegetable? Certainly neither product adds much to anyone's diet. But these figures do rely on the one-eighth cup portion USDA requires for a qualified vegetable serving size for school lunches. The USDA stresses that approved salsa must be of the hefty, all-vegetable variety as opposed to thinner, runnier kind. A department spokeswoman said the reasoning behind its approval of the zesty condiment in March was due to petitions from the West and Southwest. Apparently, salsa is eaten often as salad there. Clinton's USDA also echoes Reagan's in saying it wants to give states greater flexibility. More than anything, the agency's suspicious seal of approval says a lot about how political agendas define what's big news and what's not. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the outfit that huffs and puffs about the dangers in movie popcorn, Chinese take-out and Olestra, found something nice to say about salsa. ''It's tough enough to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables, so we're all in favor of looking for different ways to do that,'' CSPI nutritionist David Schardt told reporters. ''And this certainly sounds like a sensible one.'' Sensible? Well, then, pass the ketchup. investors.com >> One ounce IS a serving for a child, Duncan. Sorry, but I win again! Try again. One ounce of salsa is 15 calories! Btw, read Penni's last on the subject. She compared them and you lost her to the facts. Now, had she looked a little closer, she would have found that she compared ONE tbsp of catsup with TWO tbsp of salsa. Take away that unfair comparison and you will find that catsup is actually as, if not more, nutritious as salsa. techstocks.com