The Los Angeles Unified School District last week voted to loosen restrictions on flavored milks in school. The 6-1 vote allows chocolate and strawberry milk back into the city’s public school lunchrooms through a voluntary pilot program to study the effects of reintroducing flavored milk. The vote overturns a 2011 ban on flavored milks by the school district. Parents and health advocates had lobbied successfully for the ban, arguing that the drinks had unnecessary added sugar and contributed to childhood obesity. However, the LA Times reports the board decision to reintroduce flavored milks was not because of sugar content, but rather a waste problem. The district claims it is throwing out 600 tons of organic waste each day, and much of that is plain milk that schools are encouraged by federal law to offer, but that students are not enthusiastically drinking.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.