I just don’t get why anyone would think that serving kids whole milk causes obesity. How about soda or a sedentary lifestyle in front of a tv set or video game console? The IDFA released a statement today in support of New York City Councilman Bill de Blasio who has introduced a resolution that asks the school board why they’ve limited the milk choices kids and schools have.

De Blasio’s resolution is in response to last fall’s decision by school officials to limit school milk choices to allow some schools to serve fat-free chocolate milk on occasion and all schools to only serve lowfat and fat-free white milk. Prior to the restrictions, a wide variety of milk, including lowfat chocolate and strawberry, were available. The decision’s unintended nutritional consequences for students have not been fully or publicly discussed. In fact, schools have recently reported a five percent decrease in milk consumption since the new milk restrictions were put in place.

“Numerous experts have reported time and time again that milk is critical to good health. We are very concerned that this decision to practically remove lowfat flavored milk will undermine children’s nutrition by not offering them a product they would choose,” says IDFA Senior Vice President Chip Kunde. “We believe the New York City Department of Education should have initiated a public discussion before making any changes in system-wide school milk policies.”

This is just another example of what a friend of mine calls, “ignorance gone to seed.” Let’s get some healthy whole milk back into the school system!