POLL: Should Government Control School Lunch?

Congress wants to keep pizza and fries on the school lunch menu.

A spending bill released this week aims to roll back school lunch standards proposed by the Agriculture Department earlier this year.

These standards limit potatoes and sodium, while promoting the use of healthy ingredients like whole grains.

This was bad news for food industry giants who market salt, potatoes and frozen pizza for schools. They lobbied Congress to eliminate these limits and keep their business.

The new legislation would allow tomato paste on pizzas to continue to be counted as a vegetable. The USDA had wanted to only count a half-cup of tomato paste or more as a vegetable, which takes pizza out of the equation.

Conservatives want to eliminate this control over the schools, who are already dealing with enough budget issues. They argue that the government shouldn't tell children what to eat.

The nutritional changes were based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, deemed necessary to reverse the trend toward childhood obesity and reduce future healthcare costs.

The USDA said in a statement that Congress is putting special interests ahead of student health.

What do you think?