Another mystery solved! Who put the extra cheese INSIDE pizza crusts...and why?

At the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars, two Federal agencies, the Department of Agriculture & its subsdiary, Dairy Management, follow two very different agendas. The D of A would like nothing better than to accompany each of us to the grocery store and slap our hands every time we reached for a bag of potato chips, a steak or, God forbid, a nice big chunk of regular-fat cheese. Working under the umbrella of the D of A, Diary Management spends millions of dollars for their designated special interest group, diary farmers, convincing fast food restaurants to increase the amount of cheese they use in their products ~ thus the introduction of Pizza Hut's cheese-in-the-crust pizza along with Taco Bell's steak quesadilla (featuring three kinds of cheese and cream sauce) and the Chessy Angus Bacon burger offered by Wendys. My pull quote, with my emphasis, from the NYTimes:

When eaten in moderation and with attention to portion size, cheese can fit into a low-fat, healthy diet,” the department [of Agriculture] said.

In its reports to Congress, however, the Agriculture Department tallies Dairy Management’s successes in millions of pounds of cheese served.

These efforts, the department reported, helped generate a “cheese sales growth of nearly 30 million pounds.”

The Department of Agriculture has a number of similiar programs promoting other products, including (we're not supposed to eat) beef and potatos, but Diary Management is the largest. It's most recent and wildly successful effort increased sales at Domino's Pizza by directing them to add 40% more cheese to their pies and paying for a 12 million dollar marketing campaign. Quite a feather in the cap of Thomas Gallagher, who heads up Diary Management and makes upwards of $600,000 annually for his efforts.

the whole article ~ worth reading 

More cheese...happy dairy farmers who vote...happy Mr. Gallagher...all paid for, in large part, by taxpayers...business as usual. I bet even the cows think this foolish.