LOUISVILLE — In a bustling lunchroom here Monday, when students were asked to raise their hand if they believed pizza was a vegetable, no one did. Yet when the U.S. House and Senate were essentially asked that same question last fall, their answers weren’t as smart as the eighth-graders’.

An eighth-grader at Louisville Middle School enjoys a slice of cheese pizza before listening to U.S. Rep. Jared Polis speak Monday.
Photo by Troy Hooper

And we’re not talking about a veggie lover’s slice either. Under existing federal child nutrition law, even a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste on a pizza is enough to qualify it as a vegetable. Never mind that scientists classify tomatoes as fruits, even if cooks consider them vegetables.

“Congress said that eating pizza is the same as eating green beans or peas or broccoli,” U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., told the students. “While most of us know that sounds crazy, Congress apparently doe…