This item was too good to pass up.

On June 2, 2003, the USDA amended its PACA (Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act) rules to include what is described as the “Batter-Coating Rule“. Richard Schell, a federal district judge in Plano, Texas, in cahoots with the powerful french fry lobby, ruled that frozen french fries, would be from this day forward, classified as fresh vegetables.

Fresh!

Frozen!

Fresh!

Frozen!

Did anyone bother to point out the obvious difference in spelling of the two words?

Es verdad. I kid you not. Let’s travel back in time to Newsweek circa 2004:

Last month, the batter-dipped French fry industry (motto: “Making French Fries Even Less Healthy Since 1940!”) won a major victory when a judge ruled that batter-dipped fries actually qualified as “fresh vegetable” under USDA rules. Under the USDA’s “Batter-Coating Rule,” a box of chocolate-covered cherries would probably now qualify as fresh fruit, too (clearly Ronald Reagan’s USDA was ahead of its time declaring ketchup and pickle relish vegetables). Nonetheless, U.S. District Judge Richard Schell ruled that batter-coated french fries are a fresh vegetable–so, according to the food pyramid, feel free to eat three to five portions per day!

And more from Salon:

“The Frozen Potato Products Institute appealed to the USDA in 2000 to change its definition of fresh produce under PACA to include batter-coated, frozen french fries, arguing that rolling potato slices in a starch coating, frying them and freezing them is the equivalent of waxing a cucumber or sweetening a strawberry. The USDA agreed and, on June 2, 2003, the agency amended its PACA rules to include what is described in court documents as the ‘Batter-Coating Rule.’”

Excuse me while I rush off to a farmers market in search of fresh french fries…