Ripping off Scotty's email

Because I'm too tired to write anything:

First upon further research I want to post the official "Fluff" website link, which lists the "Fluff" address as being based out of Lynn. (and it of course does mention this in the article too) Big surprise, a MA senator is striking out at a MA based product. No they didn't choose to strike trans-fat based potato chips, or oreo cookies, rather a sandwich toping which just happens... just happens to be a Massachusetts company. I'm sure there is no other motive than to improve the health of children. I'm sure there is no political motive here.

This is hands down even more ridiculous than the time honored time burners... flag burning and prayer in school. You've got to love it when our public officials earn their keep.

The war on Fluffernutter escalates in Legislature

By LeMont Calloway, Globe Correspondent | June 21, 2006

A Fluffernutter war has begun in the Massachusetts Legislature.

Countering a state senator's attempt to limit servings of Marshmallow Fluff in schools, a state representative said yesterday she would file her own bill to make the Fluffernutter the state's official sandwich. A Fluffernutter is a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich.

State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein said Senator Jarrett T. Barrios has taken a ridiculous tack by going after the popular gooey snack. Marshmallow Fluff was invented by a Massachusetts man and is still produced in Lynn, part of Reinstein's district.

Barrios, outraged that his son was served a Fluffernutter for lunch at his Cambridge elementary school, proposed an amendment to a junk food bill, calling for limiting the serving of Fluff to once a week in schools statewide.

``I'm protective of Fluff; I grew up on it," said Reinstein, a Democrat. ``But it's insane that we're having this conversation."

Reinstein said she already has drummed up support from 15 lawmakers for her bill and has sent a letter to lawmakers inviting them to sign on, too, to ``preserve the legacy of this local delicacy."

Although she doesn't expect action on the bill, Reinstein said she will file it again in January when it can receive full attention. In her letter, she said that Fluff contains no fat and is only one point in the Weight Watchers diet program.

Barrios, also a Democrat, has been barraged with coverage since he announced his intention to file the bill, pointing out that Fluff is 50 percent sugar. He told the Globe in an earlier interview that he was ``not sure we should be even calling it a food."

Since word of Barrios's war on Fluff spread, the story has been picked up by local and national television and radio programs. Numerous blog postings opposed the senator's proposal, with supporters of Fluff asking if there weren't more important things the lawmaker should focus on.

Barrios was blasted on talk radio Monday, with defenders of Fluffernutters suggesting that the sandwiches are an easy and economical meal that parents can fix and that children will actually eat.

He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

One Globe reader, who opposed the measure against Fluff, responded to a Boston.com survey about the controversy, saying ``Senator: Boston is known for the Red Sox, baked beans, lobsters, and Fluff."

Jonathan Palumbo, spokesman for the Boston public schools, assured parents that neither the snack -- a mix of corn syrup, sugar, dried egg white, and vanilla flavoring -- nor the Fluffernutter appears on school lunch menus.

``We haven't served Fluff for a number of years," Palumbo said.

Barrios is attempting to add the Fluff amendment to a Senate bill that would bar soft drinks, most candy bars, and potato chips from elementary school vending machines.

Boston, as well as many other school systems, already have policies attempting to cut down on junk food and soft drinks in vending machines.

Glenn Koocher, a Barrios campaign contributor who describes himself as a friend of the senator, said he opposes the senator on the matter of Fluff.

``Regulators are trying hard to take the fun out of school," said Koocher, a Cambridge resident and executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. ``If the food police think that the ban is good for society, ban it.

``But kids need to have fun," Koocher said. ``I personally love them. Fluffernutter and crunchy Skippy peanut butter is the finest sandwich option of food."

As posted via email by: Scott E. Wilkinson