First it was sugary soda, cookies and candy bars and now San Francisco school kids will have to learn how to live without another staple sweet treat, chocolate milk.
The city’s school district announced a system wide ban on chocolate milk products for all elementary and middle schools starting this fall. The ban takes effect in high schools next spring.
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“The kids grumbled about it,” said Libby Albert, executive director of the district’s Student Nutrition Services, “but for the most part, they just switched to white milk.”
Student Sebastian Ong, 8, disagreed saying chocolate milk is “yummy and delicious,” and the ban would be “a bummer, but whatever.”
A nutrition expert says the ban of chocolate milk might not be the best choice for every school. Marlene Schwartz, director of the University of Connecticut Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity says research shows that there are students who strongly prefer flavored milk and who might because of nutritional deficiencies,
“It might make more sense to offer chocolate milk to such children ensure they get the calcium, vitamin D and potassium they need,” Schwartz said. “You kind of have to know your student body, districts have to make an informed decision.”
In 2011, the Los Angeles Unified district banned chocolate milk, citing the same argument against extra sugar as San Francisco. But the largest district in California has reversed course after a pilot study found offering chocolate milk again would increase milk consumption and reduce waste. It put chocolate milk back in all the district’s schools this spring. source