House Republican pushing that whole milk be available to school children again - Cowsmo

House Republican pushing that whole milk be available to school children again

A House Republican is pressing the Trump administration to change federal regulations so public schools can sell unflavored whole milk to kids again.

Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., introduced the Whole Milk Act, along with Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., to codify that change.

milk_1cowsmo2017Under former President Barack Obama, the Department of Agriculture changed federal nutrition standards by allowing schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to sell only unflavored 1 percent milk, not whole milk. But Marino said that change didn’t have the effect that regulators hoped.

“When the Obama administration changed the National School Lunch Program to allow only one percent unflavored milk to be sold during school lunches they claimed to be doing a service for our school children,” he said in a statement. “We saw the complete opposite, children stopped drinking milk in school and food waste went up.”

“Numerous studies have shown consuming unflavored whole milk to be a good way to prevent childhood obesity and help your body absorb more vitamins,” he said.

Marino has also asked USDA to change the regulations on its own.

“I would like to respectfully ask the United States Department of Agriculture to update guidelines to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to allow schools to sell unflavored whole milk during lunch,” he wrote to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a Thursday letter.

 

Source: Washington Examiner

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