How many people like regular milk? I don’t. It’s gross. Milk is just gross without flavoring.
But the Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to ban chocolate milk in elementary and middle school because of added sugars in flavored milk in new school lunch menu standards. From The Wall Street Journal:
“From a public-health perspective, it makes a lot of sense to try to limit the servings of these flavored milks because they do have quite a lot of added sugar,” said Erica Lauren Kenney, a public-health and nutrition professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.The USDA proposed guidelines for school meals earlier this year, but held off making a recommendation on flavored milk, most of which is chocolate.The agency said it is considering excluding flavored milk from elementary and possibly middle schools, or continuing to serve it to all grade levels. Under either scenario, flavored milk would have to comply with a new limit on the amount of added sugars.“Flavored milk is a challenging issue to figure out exactly the best path forward,” Cindy Long, administrator of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, said, explaining why the agency is weighing two options. “We really do want to encourage children to consume milk and we also recognize the need to reduce added-sugar consumption.”
I’m not the only one who does not like plain milk:
Jessica Gould, the director of nutrition services for Littleton Public Schools in Colorado, said that her school district’s consumption of milk “significantly decreased” when it experienced problems procuring chocolate milk during the Covid-19 pandemic.“Do we want kids to get the calcium, the protein, the additional nutrients that are part of milk?” she asked. “Because when we were only providing white milk, we did see a significant amount of students didn’t take milk in general.”
A study in 2019 at a Massachusetts school showed more children refused to have milk when the school took away flavored milk.
However, in 2017, a study showed 52% of the students chose plain milk when the school district stopped serving flavored milk. But 72% of students chose plain milk two years later.
Did taste and food preferences change? It’s possible.
Flavored milk is not the only item on school menus the USDA wants to limit or eliminate. Other sugary foods include cereal, yogurt, and desserts.
Also salt. Yummy yummy salt:
Starting with the next school year, the proposed rules would be implemented in stages over the next seven years to cap the amount of added sugar typically found in processed foods such as soda and cereal as well as honey and sugar itself. They don’t include sugars naturally found in foods such as fruit and unflavored milk.With salt, the rules will slowly bring down weekly limits over time. Schools will still be required to emphasize foods made with whole grains.“These standards are really designed to provide a nutritious meal because of the significance that meal has to learning, to healthcare, to the future of this country,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters Friday. “Many children aren’t getting the nutrition they need, and diet-related diseases are on the rise.”
The salt reduction isn’t enough for the betters:
Public health and nutrition groups welcomed the new limits to added sugars, but some said they were disappointed to not see greater reductions in salt. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says high sodium consumption can raise blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.“While it’s a step in the right direction, it’s not enough to get to our destination,” said Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food and health watchdog organization.
Why don’t they serve the children cardboard?! This is disgusting.
How about we get kids more active, too?
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