Ugly battle over tomatoes

One ugly m***er****er
Originally uploaded by vegacura.

The tomato wars are heating up as Rick Santorum, averting his gaze from four-legged animals to vegetable-like fruits, joins Arlen Specter in demanding that Florida tomato growers free the UglyRipe!

Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, powerful Republicans, want the U.S. Department of Agriculture to intervene. They introduced a bill last week to exempt UglyRipes from the Florida standard under an experimental USDA program. The Agriculture Department also has gotten into the act, seeking to negotiate a compromise between Procacci and Florida's other tomato growers.

Former Agriculture Secretary John Block also weighed in, praising the Specter-Santorum measure and faulting Florida's standard-setters for "stifling product innovation and holding back Florida agriculture." U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., is in talks with Procacci too.

The Florida Tomato Committee declined to comment on Washington's ardent tomato policy-making. It's not supposed to get into partisan politics, Brown explained.

Danny Raulerson, director of marketing and trade for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, suffered no such inhibition.

"Congress does not need to be wasting its time on this," he said.

While in Flahida recently, I had the opportunity to taste a sampling of UglyRipes and they were indeed quite tasty. Made more so because here in the Northeast at this time of year you can't find a tomato that doesn't taste like tap water.

And beyond the absurdity of all of this, it will be interesting to see if this becomes part of a broader debate over organic and/or heirloom produce vs. the aesthetically pleasing yet bland produce of the Big Growers who tend to control groups like the "Florida Tomato Committee."