A Healthy Meal For $3? Ag Secretary Says No Problem
“Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins made waves this week with claims that the Trump administration’s revamped food pyramid leaves plenty of room for Americans to maintain a healthy diet for as little as $3 a meal.
She said the agency ran “over 1,000 simulations” and found that “it can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, you know, a corn tortilla and one other thing.”
On social media, some people ridiculed Rollins’s comments. Who eats one piece of broccoli as a side dish? How can someone buy just one piece of broccoli or one piece of chicken at the grocery store? Some pointed out that a piece of chicken and a tortilla don’t add up to nearly the recommended caloric intake for most people. Others drew illustrations of a plate with a measly piece of broccoli and the words “one other thing.”
But the Agriculture Department said the scenario is no joke. A USDA spokesperson did not respond to questions about how the simulations worked but said in a Thursday email exchange that “there are hundreds of thousands of meal options that will align with the [dietary guidelines] and at no increased cost to American consumers.”
Read more at the Washington Post.