You would think it would be easy. Out in the Trout Lake valley not far from here cows graze on organic grass in the shadow of Mt. Adams. Their milk is some of the most nutrient rich protein dense in the world. The volcanic soil in the pastures is watered with mineral laden glacier water. A simple man would think the children of Klickitat County would benefit from this abundance. But schools and school lunches are never simple. Their outdated and often spoiled milk comes from Darigold in a land far far far away. In addition, chocolate milk laden with high fructose corn syrup is part of the offerings. This is done to get kids to drink the milk, so they say.
After their experiences drinking rotten milk, many children refuse to drink it. Gallons of small cartons are tossed in the trash every day. By law, any school that offers free and reduced lunches has to offer milk at all meals. One school lunch program was adding Hershey's Strawberry Syrup (not a strawberry in it) to the white milk to get kids to drink it.
Of course the enormous (no pun intended) dairy lobby is behind these federal mandates even though an increasing body of research indicates that milk (or what we call milk today) may not actually be that good for us or even a necessary part of our diet. Some research suggests that milk may be a small part of the obesity epidemic.
Changing these practices is going to take gargantuan efforts on the part the public, the congress and schools. Stay tuned.
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