Is a pizza a vegetable?

Is a pizza a vegetable? In the federal school lunch program in US, the answer is yes. And Congress doesn't want that to change.

Pizza -- specifically, tomato paste used in the sauce -- is considered a vegetable under rules for school lunch programs that get federal dollars. Now, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to slice how much each portion of tomato paste counts toward a serving of vegetables.

The USDA doesn't object to tomato paste counting toward some of the daily vegetable requirement for kids, but says schools rely far too heavily on the pizza -- a popular if nutritionally suspect offering in school cafeterias.

The food industry complains the USDA proposal devalues its products. Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra Foods Inc., a company that provides pizzas to schools, said it opposes the USDA plan because it would "understate the amount of tomato products ... actually consumed."

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