Yet another school district has jumped on the flavored-milk-is-from-the-devil bandwagon. The Fresno Unified School district of Fresno, California, is now considering the banning of flavored milk from their school menus citing that obesity is on the rise and taking flavored milk away is an “easy thing to do.”
At first I had several questions for these folks who seem to think their priority should be everyone’s priority. I wanted to know what their menu consisted of, if they knew Olympic athletes tout the goodness of chocolate milk after their workouts and that research that reveals the hard facts of muscle gain with milk consumption. I also wanted to know if they had soda machines in their schools, if they cared about bone health and I really would like to see how many of these anti-flavored-milk advocates are carrying a medical marijuana card.
Upon further investigation, I discovered the Fresno Unified School district lunch menus are filled with lots of fruits and vegetables, as it should be, considering they are in the middle of the most fertile farm ground in the country enabling them to grow a plethora of vegetables, fruits and nuts.

But along with the apricots, salad greens and fresh peaches, they also include other fruits and veggies like potatoes in the form of curly fries and corn in the form of mini corn dogs and lemons in the form of lemon dino grahams with snickerdoodle cookies for dessert. Of course I wouldn’t want to leave out their protein sources in the form of chicken nuggets and teriyaki dippers.

Have they questioned the fat content in curly fries and chicken nuggets? Have they looked into the chicken content in chicken nuggets? And just exactly what kind of meat is found in teriyaki dippers?

Does it make sense to take chocolate milk off the menu and then regularly feed the children food you find at every county fair in the country – corn dogs?
What kind of nutritional accountability is that? Meanwhile, the milk processors are answering their complaints by lowering the sugar content in flavored milk. Have you tasted the new milk? I won’t waste my $1.50 on a bottle of it. I’d like to know how much more flavored milk consumption has risen since they lowered the sugar content.

Much like the New Coke that came out years ago and appeared to be a marketing failure because people didn’t like it, milk processors will need to go back to their original, milk-selling formula and then follow in the footsteps of the brilliant soda manufacturers.

Coke put Coke Classic back in store coolers and sales skyrocketed. We will need Classic Chocolate back in the coolers and hope for the same increase in sales. I just hope dairy farmers can ride out the drop in consumption while our industry kowtows to parents and board members in select cities who think they know what’s best for all children in all school districts.

Maybe it’s time to let the teachers teach, the parents parent and let those who have select ideas about nutrition for everyone rule their own roost but leave the other hen houses alone.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.