School milk may lose added flavor

When Highlands County students drink milk in school, 70 percent choose chocolate milk and others strawberry milk, but the state is considering eliminating flavored milk in schools.

The State Board of Education is looking at allowing only milk with a fat content of 1 percent or less and not exceeding 110 calories for an 8-ounce serving.

This would rule out chocolate and strawberry skim milk in schools, which is 150 calories for an 8-ounce serving. One-percent white milk is 110 calories.

School Board of Highlands County Food Service Director Martha Brown disagrees with the proposed change.

"Not many of us are on board with this on the school level, just because we would like to see the kids drink milk," she said. "They drink predominantly a whole lot more chocolate milk than they drink any other flavor of milk."

Brown said if the rule is approved, it would also eliminate 100 percent fruit juice with additives.

Calories have to be watched, and food should be as nutritious as it can be with a minimum amount of added sugars, but students may shun milk if flavored milk is eliminated, she said.

"We really need these kids to drink milk," she said.

The price of milk is going up in the grocery stores, and school is one place where students get milk, she added.

The State Board of Education is reviewing comments and studies on the subject of flavored milk, including a National Dairy Council report from November.

The NDC stated that studies have shown that children who drink flavored milk meet more of their nutrient needs; do not consume more added sugar, fat or calories; and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers.

But Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity supports the proposed rule change.

"Sugar-sweetened beverages are a significant source of calories in our diets today and are linked to poor health outcomes more than for any other category of food," the Rudd Center stated in a letter to the Florida School Board. "Rigorous scientific studies have shown that consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with poor diet, increasing rates of obesity and significantly increased risk for diabetes."

The Rudd Center also disputed studies showing little negative effect from drinking flavored milk.

Brown said if the rule change is approved, it is not known when it would become effective or if it would be phased in.

The public can comment on the proposed change, which is listed at the bottom of the following DOE Web page: https://app1.fldoe.org/rules/default.aspx.

At its meeting Tuesday in Tampa, The State Board will hear a summary of comments from the medical and scientific communities including nutritionists, dieticians, etc.