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Parent takes aim at chocolate milk [UPDATED]
Published 10:48am Friday, April 29, 2011 Updated 10:48am Friday, April 29, 2011The lunches at Fergus Falls Public Schools might get a little less sweet, if some members of the schools’ parent teacher organization have anything to say about it.
Angela Fiedler, the president of the PTO, spoke briefly at Monday’s school board meeting about eliminating chocolate milk from school lunch menus. Fiedler said she would be open to keeping chocolate milk as an option on Fridays as “a special treat.”
Fiedler’s interest in the topic of school nutrition came about recently, after she attended the Mom Congress on Education and Learning in Washington D.C. earlier this month. While there, she listened to discussions of nutrition in schools from some of the crew of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, an ABC show that tries to get schools around to country to make their lunches healthier. Fiedler also learned about upcoming federal guidelines that will mandate healthier standards in school lunches across the nation.
“My want was to get (the school board) to evaluate and do some research on this agenda before they have to mandate more fruits and vegetables and get rid of all the processed stuff,” she said. She believes a good way to start is by cutting down on chocolate milk.
The public schools provide Land o’ Lakes milk, both white and chocolate. An 8 oz. carton of the company’s chocolate milk contains 23 grams of sugars, comparable to the sugars present in an 8 oz. can of soda (but less than the approximately 40 grams of sugars found in a “regular” 12 oz. can).
Fiedler told the school board she’s glad that the district has eliminated soda machines from its schools. But, she said, “We left the equivalent in their school lunches.”
Fiedler was quick to add that she was not against parents packing chocolate milk in made-from-home lunches, and she does not want to mandate each family’s dieting decisions. But, she added, she believes that offering chocolate milk as an option can only lead to unhealthy consumption choices for many children.
“If the parent wants to give them chocolate milk at home, that’s great, but I don’t think we need to be supplementing that,” she said.
Lunch time at Cleveland School definitely shows students favor chocolate milk over white milk. On a typical day, the cafeteria serves around 400 8 oz. cartons of chocolate milk during lunch and only around 100 cartons of white milk between breakfast and lunch, according to a cafeteria server at the school (chocolate milk is not served during students’ breakfasts).
One person who’s OK with the chocolate milk intake of students is Becky Shearer, the cafeteria manager for all of the district’s schools. Shearer said it’s very important to her and her staff to follow all USDA requirements when it comes to nutrition in school lunches.
“We can offer chocolate milk as long as it’s skim or it’s fat free,” she said. Though chocolate milk might have more sugar in it than regular milk, she said, it still provides the calcium and other nutrients that are found in white milk.
“I think a lot of kids get their milk that way,” she said, adding that it’s possible that kids might choose not to drink any milk at all if chocolate milk is taken away. And that concerns her.
“I feel that they should drink milk,” she said. “It’s important in their diets.”
School Superintendent Jerry Ness explained that the public schools have a wellness committee that is working on improving the school lunches’ nutritional standards and eventually bringing the school in line with upcoming federal mandates. If chocolate milk is to be taken out of lunches, he said, it will likely come as part of broader changes recommended by the wellness committee.
“It will just be a total review of all of the school’s food service,” he said.
“The new federal recommendations certainly still allow for it,” said Erica Yoney, school nurse and the chair of the wellness committee. But, she added, that doesn’t mean that the school needs to keep serving it. She welcomed the input of PTO members and said there was definitely room for them in the nine-person committee.
“We’re thrilled that we have parents who have this kind of excitement and energy,” she said.
Yoney also explained that the schools are already working to reach upcoming nutrition guidelines.
I agree with Becky Shearer, the cafeteria manager. Milk is only good for a kid if he/she drinks it. As a mother and grandmother, I know many kids go through spells where there is no way to get milk in them unless it is chocolate. You may think you are doing good for them, but if kids don’t like something, they will not eat it. It sounds like not very many take milk with breakfast where chocolate milk is not offered. Someones math needs work when refering to how much sugar is in soda and milk. As stated, ” chocolate milk contains 23 grams of sugars, comparable to the sugars present in an 8 oz. can of soda (but less than the approximately 40 grams of sugars found in a “regular” 12 oz. can).” If 8 oz. is 23 grams, then half again as much would be 35, not 40. I worked in a school lunch room many years ago. I remember chocolate milk running out many times. Most kids refused to drink the milk when white was the only option. It came back on the tray and went in the garbage. I stand by my statement, food is only nutritious when it is consumed and not dumped in the garbage.
Pam,
Thanks for reading! Just as a clarification, according to dieting website MyFitnessPal, fat free Land O’ Lakes chocolate milk has 23 grams of sugars, an 8 oz. can of Coca Cola has 27 grams (comparable), and a 12 oz. can has 39 grams. The numbers are relatively similar along the major sodas that I researched.
Hope that helps!
I agree with taking the pop machines out, or installing locks so it can only be purchased after school, but take away the chocolate milk?! You really think that the kids are going to opt for the white milk instead? I remember what it tasted like and if there was no chocolate available, then I didn’t buy any milk. Maybe we need to stop selling all the junk food for fundraisers too. I remember candy bars being a hot seller on buses, but the PTO isn’t putting a stop to that. Someone needs to stop watching so much news…next week they’ll be reporting that chocolate milk is good for you…
I want to see the chocolate milk gone. I think it is our job to teach children healthy eating so they can grow up to be healthy and not overweight and sick. Right now in our schools french fries are being called a healthy vegetable? No wonder we have kids getting type II diabetes by the time they’re 12. That really scares me. We have kids in our schools now that can’t even walk up stairs without stopping to rest…Does that send warning bells to anyone?? Kids will drink white milk in place of chocolate if they have no choice. It has been proven. We need to stop acting like their going to die if we take away thier junk…because we’re killing them by letting them have it.
I agree kids and adults need to eat better. But the chocolate milk is not the sole problem here. I would love to see the dietary rundown of all the food served at schools. Sure they may offer salad, but I guarantee that they only have lettuce, which is primarily made up of water. How about some spinach and other fresh vegetables? The whole lunch program needs to be revamped. But, I truly believe that healthy eating habits begin at home, along with exercising as well.
chocolate milk is not the dietary problem. Chocolate milk is a political issue though. leave your right wing political nonsense out of our schools please! you did enough damage freaking out over kids seeing the presidents speech!
if you really care about what the students are consuming try eating with them once, or would that be too much to ask?
I enjoy green beans but, that decomposing trash they pass off as green beans is repulsive, nasty stringy mush. no wonder kids avoid veg when that is the sorry excuse theyre expected to eat.
caramel rolls for breakfast might not be the healthiest food choice either. a little common sense would go a long way here.
healthy food choices involve more than just attacking one of the few things Kids enjoy about their lunch, lets focus on improving the quality of the main foods first before attacking something as harmless as chocolate milk on the side.
Taking out chocolate milk from school lunches or controlling” what day it is available would be a left wing political issue, not a right wing issue. It involves the government telling you what you can and cannot do.
Thank You Annette, I was going to say the same thing myself. I was going to add that maybe Lamie should start paying attention to the main sleaze media he loves so much and realize that it’s mrs obama that is pushing for this garbage…NOT the “right wingers”.
“Right wingers”= freedom
“left wingers”= socialism, just ask obama
I agree with eating as families, but I think the schools have a responsibility to feed children in a way that promotes thier health and doesn’t hinder it. Look at a school lunch menu…they’re awful! It is a good place to start, because it effects almost all children. The reality of family life right now is that many parents work and don’t have time to make good meals and eat as families anymore. I want my child eating healthy at school.
protect us from ourselves
So when schools tell students what to eat it’s the liberals fault and when the same school tells the students they can’t listen to the President of the United States live because he’s liberal and black that must be the fault of the liberals also? And when Mr. Brimer says ““Right wingers”= freedom “left wingers”= socialism, just ask Obama. He must mean the freedom of the right wing in Michigan to take over 22 towns and replace the freely elected town council and the school boards. Or maybe he means the freedom for right-wingers to take away the rights of working people to bargain for their own wages, hours and working conditions in Wisconsin. Or perhaps he means the freedom for women to have control over her own body without the interference of government. I wonder just how much freedom we gained when the republicans eviscerated Habeas Corpus and just think how much freedom our senior citizens will gain when the republican right wing take away Medicare and give our seniors a voucher which the senior citizen can then hand over to the health care industry as partial payment for Medicare. I guess he meant the freedom to choose cat food or medicine. That sure sounds like Socialism for the Big Insurance Companies and Capitalism for our senior citizens. And you Ms. Hoff, you sound like you may be a female, how’s that freedom over your own body going or is that one freedom you don’t mind giving away to the right wing. Maybe you could exchange it for some chocolate milk.
MY, my, my. Jamie and Alias Acker obviously hear the footsteps of an enraged citizenry coming after them for imposing all their leftist and politically correct nonsense on a long suffering populace no longer willing to be subjugated. How do you make a choice of chocolate or white milk into something political? Will Alias Acker try to convince us that rejecting chocolate milk for white is a consequence of a deep seated racism toward Barack Obama (who, in the mind of the racist equates chocolate and Obama’s skin color). How does he stretch milk preference or parenal concerns about too much sugar in their childrens’ diets into an attack on a woman’s access to abortions? Republicans eviscerated habeas corpus? Typical demagogic claptrap! first off, most readers here don’t know habeas corpus from a left-rotating eccentric cammed disgronificator. And it isn’t the purview of political parties to mess with or alter legal matters such as that, it is the courts. Actually, most of the significant advancements in civil and criminal rights legal cases involving habeas corpus considerations were decided (with liberalizing effects) during the 60′s and 70′s under the Warren Supreme court, and Warren was a former Republican governor of California, whose courts also astablished Miranda rights, expanded fourth amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure, struck down the death penalty (it was later re-instituted along stricter guidelines for its application).The right wing took over freely elected councils and school boards in Michigan? They sure did, by freely electing conservatives in open and free elections to replace left wing members of those councils and school boards. It is called exercising our right to vote, something Alias Acker and his Marxist lefties regret we still have in this country. But don’t worry, they are working hard to do away with elections and rule by mob rule, such as their failed efforts in Wisconsin. Hear that sound Alias Acker, it’s people deciding to do what they believe is best, and not kowtow to your dictates. Better run for your rat hole to hide til the storm blows over.
Bill, you get more spaced out every day. A few months ago you denied the existence of 8 O’clock coffee. You said it was a figment of my liberal imagination and East coast liberals. Last week you thought the “Life of Brian” was about Easter and Jesus Christ.
This morning you prove that you haven’t been following events in Michigan and haven’t the foggiest idea about recent changes by the republicans in congress regarding Habeas Corpus.
I couldn’t care less whether children drink white or chocolate milk and I wasn’t the one who interjected politics into the issue, I was simply responding to the falderal written by Hoff and Brimer.
While your lack of knowledge on some subjects is underwhelming, I do find it amazing that you, Bill Schulz, in Fergus Falls Minnesota, were the only person to know exactly what was in the mind of Michigan voters before the election, especially when the republicans never made one mention of big government taking over local communities before the election. No doubt you also foresaw the anger local communities now have when they find that the Governor of Michigan can appoint one person to come into 22 communities (so far) and replace entire, freely elected city councils and school boards and then this one person can run the town and schools by himself without recourse by local citizens. Try to keep up Bill.
Likewise, On June 7, 2007, the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007 was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee with an 11–8 vote split along party lines, with all but one Republican voting against it. On January 21, 2009, US President Barrack Obama issued an executive order regarding the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and the individuals held there. This order asserted that “[they] have the constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas corpus”. If Habeas Corpus was not removed there would be no necessity for the President to restore it. I’m sure your response is that you don’t care about the rights of Habeas Corpus for political prisoners held on American soil. The fact is, if the republicans can take away the rights of 123 innocent political prisoners on American soil, they can take away those same rights for you and me. Although being the great American you are, you wouldn’t mind all rights taken away from liberals.
Bill, I understand that life in a nursing home can be somewhat confining and cause you to withdraw from society, that however is no excuse to remain ignorant of the current events swirling around in the world outside your door. You have a computer, you claim you are able to read and understand most of what you read. You have previously detailed, ad nauseam, your many many years of study at the most prestigious universities, that I find it puzzling that someone so well educated should fail so miserably to give any evidence of an education at all.
You guys crack me up! It’s milk…let the kids have their chocolate milk if it means they will drink milk. We have much more important things to worry about in school than whether or not the kids should have chocolate milk. We should focus on the education and keeping teachers before we should worry about something as silly as getting rid of chocolate milk and then making this into a right wing left wing debate! The hormones in the milk these days are doing crazy things to our kids anyway.
I’ve been involved with the chocolate versus plain milk debate in my own kids’ school district here in Maine, and the way I look at it there are two issues:
1) How do we get our kids to drink more milk TODAY?
2) How do we promote healthier eating habits that will last a life time?
If we focus on number one, then by all means, give the kids chocolate milk. In fact, pour chocilate syrup on their vegetables and add sugar to any other food items we want to promote.
But if we care about number two, then making the effort to remove foods laden with sugar from the regular menu options available at school and in the home makes sense.
Yes, in the short term, we’ll get a lot of kids refusing milk. But over time, many of these kids will develop a tast for unsweetened and unflavored milk, and may even come to prefer it.
By feeding kids chocolate milk we are conditioning their palates to prefer highly sweetened foods, and in the long term such a policy has negative consequences for our children’s health.
And that’s really all I care about: the long term consequences. This is not a liberal versus conservative issue. It’s about helping our kids live long, happy, HEALTHY lives.
just to make it clear to the wing nut drones, “liberal” is in reference to “liberty” not socialism, however, socialism in and of itself is not a negative nor controlling thing either but, I already know it’s pointless to try and teach Republicans anything unless it involving pointing a blame finger or hating someone weaker or less fortunate. that being said.
to Bill Schultz, Dave Brimer, and the rest of the GOP/tea party cartel,
1. clean the excrement out of your eyes and ears!, while I haven’t posted my birth certificate as proof, it should be painfully obvious that “Acker Johnson” and myself are different people, get real! I’m not even Black so why question my Identity? oh that’s right I think all people deserve equal rights, now I get it, it’s just like how not all those who were slaughtered in the concentration camps were Jews… the Daily journal has verified who I am via phone and I assume everyone else here is verified as well. last I knew, it was mandatory to post here.
2.I’m not a democrat, as I have stated on many occasions, I am a “technocrat” while as any sane American should, I do support democracy, I’m not stupid enough to think politicians hold the solutions to any real problems. especially politicians that are bought and paid for as all of our currently elected are.
technology has provided the only beneficial solutions in all of history., included pre-recorded history. thus I embrace technology and democracy, a ideology that we will continue to see gain more and more momentum as the old ways continue to limp to their unavoidable demise.
as for the issue at hand, I have both seen and heard this “chocolate milk” issue being pushed by the right, but I’m sure there are nitpickers on the left as well.
@Paul Markosian, while I can see you are well educated in this subject I must point out that children do not “develop a taste for sweetness”, they are born with it.
newborns given a “taste” of sugar, smile, but wince at the taste of salt.
this proves that salt is an acquired taste but sugar is there from birth.
sugar is essentially “pre-digested food” and yes contains empty calories.
You suggest “in the short term, we’ll get a lot of kids refusing milk. But over time, many of these kids will develop a tast for unsweetened and unflavored milk, and may even come to prefer it.”
while this is true, it is also true that this has already been tried as recently as the 1970′s and early 1980′s locally.
just educate children and let them enjoy their childhood complete with chocolate milk, if parents don’t want their child consuming chocolate milk than they should discuss it with their children.
if your kid doesn’t listen to you, then you got a much bigger problem than chocolate milk and should probably look into resolving that first.
if you still feel you must control your childs environment so much that you cannot allow others to consume chocolate milk in your childs presence, than I suggest home schooling or professional seeking counseling.
Jamie, thanks for your response to my comment. I don’t dispute your point that children are born liking the taste of sweet. My point, though, is that we can help condition their palates, over time, to enjoy and even prefer foods that are not highly sweetened. And we are living in an age when people, in general, are consuming WAY more sugar than they did in the past. So…do we want to just sit back and let this trend continue, with all the deleterious effects that this will have on our kids’ future health, or should we try to steer them away from a diet that contains foods with extra added sugar? And I’m not saying ban chocolate milk–just serve it (and things like it) as treats for special occasions. Keep in mind that humans have been happily drinking milk for thousands of years…now all of a sudden some people think our kids will find it unacceptable unless it is sweetened and flavored. And I want to acknowledge that the pro-chocolate milk people have the kids’ best interests at heart…they are just (in my humble opinion) overlooking the long-term negative effects in favor of the short-term positive ones.
I agree people do need to control the amount of sugar intake we are consuming in our everyday lives. However, the problem isn’t the type of milk we are drinking, it’s the type of sugar in the milk that is the problem. The problem is processed and refined food. My friend is a research assistant at NDSU and he has said that glucose or sucrose (normal table sugar) is not the same sugar that goes into pop or chocolate milk. That is high fructose corn syrup. It is in almost everything that is mass produced and needs sugar. HFCS is a very bad sugar as it is processed much differently in the body. My friend said that they have proven that glucose and sucrose is burned much easier through metabolism than its refined counter-part HFCS is. HFCS is the reason why coaches limit the amount of pop athletes can drink, as it makes your metabolism slow down. You don’t see any athletes coming home saying, “Mom, coach said I can’t eat cookies!” now do you? No. HFCS has been known to target build up fat in the lungs, thus making it hard to breathe. Too anyone out there having breathing problems that are not asthmatic or have any other diagnosed lung ailments, eliminate pop from your diet and walk a mile a day and I promise within a week you will feel a difference. The problem is not the types of foods us Americans eat, the problem is what goes into the foods we eat. All it takes is a little responsibility to look up and be aware of what you are eating. I have had my 2 cents.
Chocolate milk is good nutrition in disguise. It’s no mistake that students choose chocolate over “white” milk, the added flavor offers a “treat” for kids. Chocolate milk has proved itself to be a nutritious food for kids: supplying much needed calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, potassium, phosphrous, etc. Low fat/fat free options are available. Also, perhaps the PTO should research new varieties of chocolate milk which offer the same chocolate taste, powerful nutrition & LOWER sugar content. In recent months, the dairy industry has been working to respond to concerns from parents, thereby making lower sugar options more readily available.
Let’s be honest though, healthy eating starts at home, unfortunately for some children, school lunches are their only source of nutritous food.
I completely agree Shannon! I feel like this is just another way for parents to bail themselves out and blame something else on the school systems. Teachers and schools are NOT responsible for instilling good eating habits in kids.
chocolate milk is a great treat. teach YOUR kids to eat correctly and explain to them when treats can be had. omg, why do we want and allow others and the government to dictate what and how we raise our children and live our lives.
I don’t know if it makes any difference today, but back in the 50’s and 60’s at the North Star Dairy in Fergus Falls, white milk was made from grade A milk and chocolate and powdered milk were made from grade C milk.
Basically the difference back then as to grade of milk, was the distance from the farmers barn to his well, the availability of hot fresh soft water in his milk house and the bacteria count in his cows milk.
There may have been other criteria but those are the ones I remember. (back in those days I was a republican so my memory may be somewhat skewed )
Maybe instead of complaining about chocolate milk being bad for children we should look into getting physical education back into the school systems instead. I guess if I were a parent of children in District 544 I would be more worried about my children receiving a good education and skills to help them live the rest of their lives. Pissing and moaning about a carton of chocolate milk per day would be the least of my worries.
@Paul Markosian, I can’t argue against what you’re saying. as a reader of Dr. Atkins I know we all consume far too many carbs these days, and I agree everyone should consume less, but, at the same time the benefits of children consuming milk is so important, it’s a by any means possible issue. if we phase out chocolate milk, what if we fail even one generation during the transitional period? after a certain age, it’s too late to make up for calcium that wasn’t consumed during those developmental years.
I say theres no real need to risk it.
Chocolate milk isn’t some kind of “gateway substance” to a high carb lifestyle. realistically the average person could drink it with every meal without any tangible health damage, as long as the rest of the meal balances it out.
Parents need to talk with their children about it and influence their food choices with intelligent conversation. out children are not sub-humans after all, they have better cognitive skills than most of the parents.
the school should continue to help out with proper health education.
a greater concern of mine is younger students being given bags and bags of candy on a frequent basis at school. my son used to come home with ridiculous amounts of candy in grade school, on a daily basis, he still comes home with candy bribes from teachers from time to time, in High school.
before we attack chocolate milk, lets tackle this overuse of candy in our schools, at the same time lets focus on the overall quality of the meals being served. late time I ate in the school cafeteria with my son we were both served green beans that both tasted and looked as if they were partially decomposed. they we inedible. I tried to eat them but they were basically just salty mush with some stringy pulp. I’m sure they were from a can. I suggest we switch food suppliers, I’d like to see one that focuses on more fresh food. obviously this would raise food costs some but wouldn’t it be worth it?
I’d rather pay for higher food quality than a ice arena albatross on our community.
Well said, Jamie.
Here’s the answer to the dilemma: MOJOMILK (www.mojomilk.com)
This new powdered chocolate milk mix that comes in on-the-go stick packs can be added to the milk at school. It makes great tasting chocolate milk and has 60% less calories, plus also delivers 10x more active probiotics than yogurt. Healthy, delicious, less calories….everyone wins!
I agree with Becky also. If Angela doesn’t want her children drinking chocolate milk, that is her choice as a parent. This is the bone building years of children and due to the fact that the school doesn’t offer milk anytime other time of the day except for Kindergarten(not even sure if they do that anymore)it is important for them to get this nutrition whether it is CHOCOLATE or white. Some parents struggle with getting their children to drink milk and we only have so many years to build their bones before they start breaking down! Ottertail County Public Health needs to be in on this conversation.
I think the amount of excersise has alot to do with the health of all ages. Watching TV and most video games are not considered excersise. I have a Daughter with T1 Diabetes, it really sucks. The exact cause of T1 diabetes is unknown. In most people with T1 diabetes, the bodys own immune system, which normally fights bacteria/viruses mistakenly destroys insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Genetics play a roll and exposure to certian viruses may trigger the disease. Type 2 on the other hand has more to do with weight and excersise. I agree with Alisha, What about all of the pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer that are put in the ground of the food we eat. I think this has a lot to do with all of the Cancer and other diseases we are living with and dying from!!
Nutrition grade for skim milk is A, choclate skim A-.
So personally I do not feel Choclate milk is really an issue.
Well said Stacy and Jamie.