Dealing a Blow to Potatoes

Most American’s love French fries but due to a lack of knowledge they have become the poster child for obesity and poor health. Frank Van Schaayk is the Regional CEO for McCain Foods.

VAN SCHAAYK: Restaurant sales of French fries have been declining for 5 years. A recent study by NPD Crest and for those of you that don’t know them they do the eating studies so they don’t just ask people what they’re eating they get them to record every meal. But servings have fallen by 1.6 billion servings over the last 10 years.

About 40% of all potatoes consumed are French fries so that would have a major impact on the potato industry.

VAN SCHAAYK: The U.S. Potato Board has made great strides with the Goodness Unearthed campaign. I think it’s a wonderful thing communicating positive attributes of potatoes but still we haven’t been effective overall because many people still see the potato as a vegetable. Much less one that contains multiple essential nutrients. And when you fry a potato, forget it. We give the folks that want to bash us, we give them all kinds of reasons at that point to take the thing to a whole new level of emotion fueled negative press that blames fries for just about everything and every chronic illness I mentioned earlier.

A big blow to the industry came last year from the USDA.

VAN SCHAAYK: The USDA Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children – some of you may know it as the WIC program – and this is unbelievable; singled out white potatoes for exclusion from the approved list of vegetables to support the nutrition of women, infants and children. Now think about that. Potatoes. One of the most accessible, most affordable vegetables anywhere in the world is off limits.

Van Schaayk says that they got into the debate on the WIC program late. But that’s not all.

VAN SCHAAYK: And based on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine on school meals the USDA is talking about limiting the servings of starchy vegetables which includes corn and peas as well as potatoes to two half cup servings a week with no vegetables allowed at breakfast. With fries, white potatoes and corn, which are three of the five most commonly consumed vegetables at lunch. It makes you wonder how kids are going to get the nutrients. We’re excluding things that are great deliverers of nutrients.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.