The NPC and the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) have signed a joint letter to the editor of the New York Times in response to a misleading article attacking potatoes.
The November 29, 2018 article entitled “You Don’t Want Fries with That” had numerous flaws about the nutritional content of potatoes.
In particular, NPC and AFFI took issue with the article’s statement “that ‘potatoes rank near the bottom of healthful vegetables and lack the compounds and nutrients found in leafy green vegetables.’ In fact, this is nutritionally inaccurate and misleading.”
“The potato has a nutrient content similar to other vegetables (and exceeds that of other starchy vegetables). One medium-sized (5.2 ounce) potato with the skin provides 30% of your daily value of vitamin C, 10% of vitamin B6, 8% of thiamin, 6% of iron and magnesium, more potassium than a banana… 2 grams of fiber, 3 grams of complete protein. All of this for just 110 calories, no fat, no sodium and no cholesterol,” stated John Keeling, NPC CEO and Alison Bodor, President & CEO of AFFI.
The Times article also cited an “all-cause mortality” study to support their claims. NPC and AFFI again pointed out how misleading that is for readers, since “‘All-cause mortality’literally means those participants who died during the study died from any cause.
The death of a participant as a result of an auto accident will count the same in the data as the death of a participant as a result of heart disease… When death for any reason is the outcome, the data is not meaningful.”
