Crying over spilt chocolate milk? Campaign says keep it in schools, experts say take it out

The creators of the "Got Milk?" campaign are getting ready to make a big push to keep chocolate milk on kids' minds and on school lunch menus, a plan that has some educators and obesity activists none too pleased.

[George]

In the federal register (7CFR210.10(m)(4)Congress has prohibited any restrictions on the sale of fluid milk in the USDA school meals program:

"(4) Restrictions on the sale of milk. A
school participating in the Program, or
a person approved by a school participating
in the Program, must not directly
or indirectly restrict the sale or
marketing of fluid milk (as described
in paragraph(m)(1)(ii) of this section)
at any time or in any place on school
premises or at any school-sponsored
event.

Prohibiting the offering/sale of flavored fluid milk in schools thus restricts the "sale or marketing of fluid milk" and therefore violates the Congressional intent.

[Bob Duell Goshen In]

We have chocolate milk in our school and we considered pulling it. I led the way but after looking at the big picture I feel a little different. There is so much we could do to improve our eating habits that why fight this one (yet). I think we can look at getting appropriate cereals and maybe ban chocolate milk with cereals. Also I like the idea at Barrington but I might do it in reverse. White Milk only one day a week and then move it to two and eventually get to 4 days a week and leave the flavored milk once a week.We must teach young children how to make choices based on good information and good modeling. Just banning it makes them want it more.

[Tired of the blame game]

Why is school lunch always the blame for the obesity problems?? At least the students will drink chocolate milk which contains good nutritional value. Why doesn't the press go after the parents that bring in fast food for their students at lunch, or the classroom parties that still go on with sugary sweets?? Or the food based fundraisers that are still very popular with mant districts???
Overall school lunch is a very well balanced nutrtious meal even with chocolate milk!
As a food service director there are other issues that need to be addressed, the one piece of pizza and an 8 ounce serving of chocolate milk is not the problem in making children fat!
Help the food service departments gain more time to feed the students, give the students more time to eat the meals served, more funding so we can provide fresh fruits and vegetables year. More support for us to encourage breakfast as most schools allow 10 minutes for breakfast and the chase the students off to class and half their food goes in the trash. Trust me as a SNS for the past 25 years there are much bigger issues than to take away something that the student will consume!

[L Carrozzi]

Even if those calorie calculations were accurate ( which they are not) one is assuming that every student is consuming more calories than expending during each of those 180 days thus contributing to weight gain. The 8 oz of chocolate milk which I offer is non fat & is packed with vital nutrients necessary for our childrens growing bodies.

As a Registered Dietitan and Director of Nutrition Services I take pride in knowing that our shcools offer balanced nutrition to our students which includes the choice of non fat flavored milk and 1% white milk.

[PA Sch Fd Serv Dir]

Again, the schools are being brought to task over a problem that is caused not by school meals, but by the sedentary lifestyles of the majority of children these days. Get them off the couch and outside to play. Stop taking them out for fast food 5-10 times a week. Train them from infancy until they get to school to eat nutritious foods in moderation. They are not getting fat from school meals and those 40-60 extra calories in chocolate milk (Which happens to be 1% milk)are not adding up to near what they are getting from McNuggets and Whoppers. It is easy for experts to target school meals, but hey should in fact be targeting the Reauthorization Bill for the national school lunch program to get proper nutrient levels written into it. Milk is important and if they want to have chocoalte (or vanilla, strawberry or oragnge) flavors to drink it, we need to make it available to them. It is not just the calcium in milk, but other essential nutrients, including the added vitamin D. The experts should face off with the fast food chains and the parents who raise their kids on the food the chains supply.

[sstoutner]

Hopefully someday someone will realize the main weight gain for children is the LACK OF EXERCISE!!! Many of us "in the olden days" drank milk with chocolate syrup and soda. But the majority of our days were spent outside running and playing. Not in front of the video games, computers and TVs. Keep the flavored milk as an option.

[Kassie]

and what bout the kids that like strawberry milk ?????

[smurfz]

I think i have the solution to the problem. instead of changing lunch's require gym classes year around not just a semester or so. make the class short but make it all year around than the kids have excercise every day and let them have there bloody flavored milk.

[Eastwood]

Good Lord people, there is a war going on, job losses, banks folding, corrupt stock markets, homelessness, a socialist as president, and a million other worldly problems......and you self centerd whiners want to spend your time arguing over chocolate milk ?

[BC in NC]

It seems that congress has nothing better to do than regulate the sale of flavored milk. I do however think that some regulation should be in place to prohibit the use of "High Fructose Corn Syrup" as a sweetener regardless of what the corn industry says because of the effects on the human body when compared to sugar.