Milk's Critical Role in Schools Championed on Capitol Hill

10/9/2003 Milk's Critical Role in Schools Championed on Capitol Hill - 10/7 PR Newswire

In addition, the nation's dairy producers and processors commended Dr. Robert Heaney, M.D., for his testimony today at a House Education Committee hearing, where he strongly supported milk's central role in the National School Lunch Program and countered suggestions that milk's unique nutritional package can be replaced by alternative beverages. The hearing was held to consider ways to improve the school lunch program through changes to the Child Nutrition Act, which would reauthorize program funding. As part of this reauthorization, the dairy industry is supporting -- along with independent health experts such as Dr. Heaney -- an expanded role for milk in the school lunch program.

"We applaud the Congressmen and Dr. Heaney for their leadership on this important child health issue. It speaks to the bill's importance that the vice chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee and a leader in the Congressional Black Caucus are among the sponsors," noted IDFA Executive Vice President Connie Tipton. "Too many schoolchildren today are deficient in calcium and other key nutrients, paralleling a long-term trend of decreased milk consumption. Today's information proves yet again that there simply is no substitute for milk."

"Today's actions highlight milk's unparalleled nutrient content, and how important it is to get milk to our children," noted NMPF President and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Kozak. "Milk has been a nutritional cornerstone for these programs with good reason for more than 50 years. With medical research continually uncovering new reasons why it's important to drink milk, it is critical that we update the school lunch program to get more milk to kids more often."

A physician, biomedical scientist and faculty member of Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., Dr. Heaney outlined key scientific findings in front of the House Education Committee to show how milk is irreplaceable in a child's balanced diet. Dr. Heaney testified that the nutrient most likely to be in short supply in a typical American diet is calcium. In fact, several federal agencies and health professional organizations have termed a "calcium crisis". After age 8 or 9, the typical American girl or woman gets half or less the recommended amount of calcium each day.

Dr. Heaney debunked the notion that fortified soy drinks could deliver the same nutrients naturally found in milk.

"Soy beverages are not substitutes for milk -- just as a potato is not a substitute for an orange," Dr. Heaney testified in his oral statement. "Soy does not have the nutrient profile of milk, and in order to compensate for its inherent deficiencies, soy beverage processors add nutrients such as calcium. One might think that that would be sufficient to make them equivalent, but unfortunately that is not the case."

"I have just this past summer tested all the calcium-fortified soy and rice beverages that I could find in the Omaha market. In all of them, the calcium settled down into the bottom of the carton, as a heavy sludge ... it would have taken a hardware store paint shaker to suspend the calcium in some of them."

He also dispelled the misperceptions on lactose intolerance, particularly in regard to minority populations, that have been employed in the efforts to downgrade milk's place in the programs.

"One such myth involves a shameless use of the race card in regards to lactose intolerance. The fact is that people of all races are able to consume, digest and benefit from milk without difficulty," testified Dr. Heaney (To read the doctor's full testimony, visit the "Legislation" section of www.idfa.org.)

The House legislation seeks to amend the National School Lunch Program to ensure milk's increased availability to schoolchildren in several ways. Specifically, the act: 1) gives additional flexibility to schools as to the milk offered students, in flavor variety, and reduced-fat and lowfat milk varieties, as determined by the school; 2) allows schools to offer additional choices, through a la carte milk products in various sizes and varieties adjacent to the reimbursable milk products; 3) allows schools to offer milk for sale at school events and anywhere on school premises, if they choose, preventing restrictions on such sales sometimes included in beverage contracts; 4) provides incentives to schools for increased milk consumption: Schools could receive an increased meal reimbursement rate or other incentive if they implement plans for improving nutrition through increased milk consumption -- including promotion of milk, better flavor variety, refrigeration, etc.; and 5) establishes a grant program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist schools in creating healthy school environments, defined in terms of improved nutrition and physical activity, and the provision of healthy food choices (including fruits, vegetables, and dairy products).

The legislation is a companion bill to S. 1367, which was introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell this summer.

NMPF, headquartered in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of U.S. dairy producers and the cooperatives they collectively own. The members of NMPF's 34 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of 60,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.

IDFA is the Washington, DC-based organization representing the nation's dairy processing and manufacturing industries, and their suppliers. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), National Cheese Institute (NCI) and International Ice Cream Association (IICA). Its 500-plus members range from large multinational corporations to single-plant operations, and represent more than 85% of the total volume of milk, cultured products, cheese, and ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States, an estimated $70-billion industry.

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