The common potato may soon reclassify as a grain if the U.S. Senate fails to defend its waning vegetable status.

It may be the number one food for the average American, who consumes 49.4 pounds of potatoes per year, but classifiers call it starchy. Hence, it may soon earn an infamous inclusion in the grain section of the oncoming 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA).

DGA review happens every 5 years through a joint committee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Health and Human Services (HHS) department. 

But this year’s DGA recommendations to reclassify the potato has met with strong congressional opposition. On April 2, 2024, 14 U.S. senators formally contacted USDA and HHS to field their disagreement.

They opined that placing potatoes in the grain food class will deny millions of Americans a key nutritional source.

In a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the senators cited the higher nutritional composition of potatoes over grains.

For instance, potatoes have a 15% higher value of potassium which nourishes muscles than a banana, itself a starchy fruit. 

The senators also delineated the vitamin content of a medium baked potato as superior to that of grains. They pointed out a vitamin B6 proportion of 27% of the daily value (DV) and vitamin C at 28%. Besides, the root harbors a dietary fiber portion of 15% of the DV. 

Interestingly, the above elements currently make the tuber list among DGA’s 2020-2025 healthy foods for Americans.

If this reclassification goes ahead, the senators’ letter warns that “consumers would miss out on vital nutrients.”

Arguably, schools would have to increase vegetable procurement costs for their lunch packages since potatoes offer the cheapest vegetable option.

Potatoes currently cost less than $6.99 per kilogram in the United States and could get cheaper. Indeed, the 2023-24 record U.S. harvest produced 9% more than its 2022-23 equivalent, meaning buffer supplies in store.

Ultimately, as the letter concludes, reclassifying potatoes as grains would confuse the supply chain and lead to less retail momentum.