Maine Potato Board honors Sen. Collins for keeping spuds in school lunches

After eating a potato-plentiful lunch that she deemed both “delicious and nutritious,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins was honored Monday afternoon for her work in assuring that schools across the nation are free to serve potatoes to students.

During a luncheon at The Crow’s Nest restaurant in Presque Isle, Maine, that included both a baked potato bar and potato leek soup, Collins was honored by the Presque Isle-based Maine Potato Board and more than 30 potato growers, shippers and other industry officials. The board organized the luncheon after the Senate voted on Nov. 17 to approve a 2012 agriculture funding bill that included a bipartisan amendment, authored by Collins, that will protect the flexibility of schools to serve potatoes and other vegetables in the national school lunch and breakfast programs. It then was signed by President Barack Obama.

The luncheon also was attended by John Keeling, executive vice president and CEO of the National Potato Council, and state Department of Agriculture Commissioner Walt Whitcomb.