All Of Sudden Chocolate Milk Is On The Radar

We at Georgia Milk have been talking about USDA's proposed rule for school meals for some time now. If you're unfamiliar or need a refresher, USDA proposed new rules for school meals (breakfast and lunch) that would take effect in the 2024-2025 school year. The proposal as a whole covered several areas of nutritional concern, but two aspects of the proposed rule would have a significant impact on dairy. First, USDA asked interested parties to comment on two ideas for the future of school milk: Either remove chocolate and flavored milks entirely from elementary and middle school cafeterias or maintain the current selection of low-fat and fat free white and flavored milk. The second proposal was to cap the amount of added sugars in all meals--a move that would impact the dairy industry as flavored milk makes up a decent amount of the added sugar in a given school meal.

Georgia Milk Producers and the Georgia Farm Bureau submitted comments in support of maintaining flavored milk in schools and encouraging USDA to reevaluate its stance that low-fat and fat free milk are the best options for children (essentially encouraging the agency to allow 2 percent and whole milk in schools). Several of our E-News readers submitted comments along those same lines, and we appreciate your support.

The comment period on this proposal closed on May 10, and since then we have seen a spate of stories in mainstream news and on social media recapping the decision USDA is left to make after reviewing comments from the public. Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the UK's DailyMail (which featured an interview with Carolynn Williams, a 2023 Georgia Dairy Conference contributor) have all run stories on their websites detailing USDA's proposal to cut chocolate milk from school menus. As most of these articles point out, USDA is claiming that removing flavored milk will improve health outcomes for children and assist in reducing the rate of childhood obesity and diabetes. As GMP and others have argued, the benefit from ensuring kids receive adequate amounts of dairy in their diet are numerous, and the added sugar in school milk is miniscule in relation to the average child's diet.

With all this newfound attention, it's important to point out some important facts surrounding school milk:

1. Flavored milk in stores tend to have much higher sugar content than the chocolate and strawberry milk served in schools. The good folks at CBS News in Boston pointed to the nutrition panel of a gallon of chocolate milk they had picked up at a grocery store as proof that school milk has large amounts of added sugar.
2. Flavored milk provides kids with a serving of 13 essential nutrients in a form they appreciate and enjoy.
3. Sugar in school milk attributes roughly 4 percent of the added sugar in children's diets (as compared to 45 percent for fruit drinks and sodas).
4. Major School Milk Providers have signed a pledge to reduce sugar in school milk voluntarily called "The Healthy School Milk Commitment."

Further Reading:

1. Fox News: USDA Considering Chocolate Milk Ban in School Cafeterias to Combat Childhood Obesity
2. Wall Street Journal: Chocolate Milk Faces Potential Ban in School Cafeterias
3. Daily Mail: Got Chocolate Milk?
4. Healthy School Milk Commitment
5. Flavored Milk Resource Guide and Fact Sheets

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Field Day Upcoming

June 15 - UGA Tifton Conference Center: UGA and UF Extension are partnering to host a Corn Silage and Stored Forage Field Day. Register HERE.

GMP and GDA to Host Raw Milk Interest Meetings

The Georgia Milk Producers and Georgia Department of Agriculture Dairy Division will be hosting informational meetings for producers interested in the state's new raw milk for human consumption program. Representatives from GDA will discuss the program rules and regulations and answer questions.

See the graphic below for meeting dates, times, and locations. Email bryce@gamilk.org to RSVP for the meeting. Lunch will be provided.

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May Dixie Dairy Report

Calvin Covington's popular Dixie Dairy Report for May 2023 is available HERE.

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This Week's E-News Is Brought To You By....

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If you or your company would like to advertise in the GMP E-News, email bryce@gamilk.org for more info.

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GA Milk Producers Encouraged to Participate in GA Beef Referendum

The Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Beef referendum is now up for a vote. Georgia dairy producers are encouraged to participate in the beef check off vote as dairy producers contribute a considerable portion to checkoff.

From Georgia Department of Agriculture:

The Georgia Agriculture Commodity Commission for Beef was established at the request of Georgia cattlemen in 2013 by the Georgia Legislature. Georgia beef producers first voted in 2014 to approve a marketing order to establish a $1 per head assessment on all cattle sold in Georgia for beef with a value

over $100. It is required that the market order be voted on every three years for continuation.

The voting for the renewal of the assessment by Georgia beef producers will take place from June 1 to 30, 2023. Beef producers should receive a ballot in the mail by early June. If a beef producer does not receive a ballot by June 10; please call 404 656 3680 or go to www.gabeefballot.com to request a ballot. For the ballot to be considered valid, the back of the return envelope must be filled out and signed. Ballots must be postmarked by June 30, 2023.

Funds from the assessments are used to fund research, education, and promotion projects for the Georgia cattle producers. The marketing order includes beef and dairy breeds sold for use of beef. In the nine years since the assessment began, over three million dollars has been committed to research projects with the University of Georgia and in-state education and promotions which impact producers in Georgia.

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Agricultural Commodity Commission for Milk Seeking Nominations

The following Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commissions are seeking nominations for producers to serve as commission members through Friday, May 26:

Apple, Blueberry, Corn, Cotton, Equine, Milk, Peaches, Pecan, Soybean, Tobacco, Vegetable, Wine & Grape, Citrus.

Nomination forms can be found at - agr.georgia.gov/cpf.

Nominations can be submitted via email to andy.harrison@agr.georgia.gov or mail:

Andy Harrison

Georgia Dept of Agriculture

19 Martin Luther King Dr

Room 324

Atlanta, GA 30334

A producer may nominate themself, be nominated by someone else, or by an affiliated organization of that commodity. The term for a commission appointment is three years, and a commission member can be reappointed for additional terms. Appointments for the commissions are made by the Commodity Commission Ex Officio Committee in July.

A commission member's responsibility is to represent the producers of that commodity by attending periodic meetings and making decisions on behalf of the producers.

Georgia Agriculture Commodity Commissions were created by the Georgia General Assembly at the request of the producers. These commissions help producers by representing and supporting the commodity. Funds or assessment collected through farmer approved market order may be used for research, education, and promotion of the commodity. Most of the commissions allocate a vast portion of the funds to research projects.

For more information contact Andy Harrison:

Email: andy.harrison@agr.georgia.gov

Phone: 404-710-1196

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Cows Lead Cops to Robber

This week's fun story comes from Boone, NC where a herd of beef cows (we assume based on the picture posted by Boone PD) assisted police in catching a fleeing suspect. We all know cows to be nosey creatures, but I never pegged them as snitches.

Check out Boone PD's Facebook post about the incident.

Have you seen any fun bovine breaking news lately? Forward it along to us at the GMP E-News so we can share with the rest of the dairy community.

Until Next Time,

Bryce Trotter