Ketchup as a vegetable

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Ketchup alongside French fried potatoes

The ketchup as a vegetable controversy or ketchupgate refers to a proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Drug Administration directive, early in the administration of Ronald Reagan, that would have reclassified ketchup and pickle relish from condiments to a vegetable, allowing public schools to cut out a serving of cooked or fresh vegetable from hot lunch program child-nutrition requirements. The Reagan administration was, in fact, responding to a Congressional cost-savings mandate. The White House Office of Management and Budget estimated a potential US $1 billion annual savings in the cost of subsidized meals for low-income students.

Release of the proposed directive for required public comment in September 1981 met with outrage from nutritionists and Democrats. Charges of greed and indifference were made by media and pundits. The administration responded their concern was to address "plate waste" and to serve what students would actually consume. Focusing more unwanted attention on the matter, a mid-level political appointee at the USDA touted the directive's language as an example of the "New Federalism" (returning rights to the state level) touted by Reagan during the 1980 presidential campaign, in that the final decision to implement would be made on the state level. Reassignment of that employee the following month led to charges of a political firing.

In reporting on the proposed directive Newsweek magazine illustrated their story with a bottle of ketchup with the caption "now a vegetable." The proposed directive was criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike, and was never implemented.^[1]