Digging into the details: Senators from both parties agree that potatoes should be classified as vegetables, not grains

Potatoes are not a grain, according to a bipartisan group of 14 senators who want the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments to continue classifying the starchy spud as a vegetable.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) penned a letter to the government agencies on Tuesday demanding that potatoes remain a vegetable as the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee prepares to implement new diet guidelines in 2025.

“Since the inception of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), it has classified potatoes correctly as a vegetable,” they wrote. “Unlike grains, white potatoes are strong contributors of potassium, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and fiber.”

Experts say that potatoes should not count toward a person’s vegetable intake because they are high in starch carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar levels to spike. A 2019 study found the most consumed food in the United States was the potato, though it revealed most people eat potatoes in processed or frozen form.

Nevertheless, the senators dug up their own data, pointing to a 2013 National Library of Medicine study that shows potatoes are a critical source of nutrients.

Collins and Bennet also say the change would harm the farming industry and confuse consumers and the supply chain as a whole.

In Maine, potato farming contributes $540 million annually to the state’s economy, according to Maine’s Department of Agriculture.

The senators are also contending that reclassifying the potato as a grain would negatively affect schools already struggling to meet the vegetable consumption standards, arguing in their letter that potatoes are a more affordable vegetable.

While senators spar with government officials over the status of the spud, a coalition within the grain industry told the advisory committee that replacing grains with a starchy alternative could fry up problems and lead to nutrient deficiencies, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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Kam Quarles, the CEO of the National Potato Council, addressed the spud’s controversy at a hearing in September, NewsNation reported.

“While NPC is sensitive to individual needs and cultures, we urge the Committee to recognize a potato is not a grain,” Quarles said in defense. “Potatoes are the most widely produced vegetable in the U.S.,” “The suggestion to reclassify potatoes as a non-vegetable is not grounded in any scientific metric. Instead, it apparently involves arbitrary preferences of meal substitution.”