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Schools

Schools hope new milk is a healthy lunch compromise

School leaders say Healthy Cow flavored milk is a good option for students who have lunch in the day's last period.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published January 26, 2005

The Pinellas school district is hoping a new product called Healthy Cow will get kids on a path to better nutrition.

The "real" milk, manufactured by Velda Farms, comes in a clever package and has a sweet taste. With 10 grams less sugar than other flavored milks, it is fat free and fortified with vitamins A and D.

Students at Boca Ciega, Countryside and St. Petersburg high schools gave the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry milk a thumbs up when it debuted in vending machines and on cafeteria lines earlier this month.

St. Petersburg High student Marcus Floyd tried a free 10-ounce sample of Healthy Cow during the launch at his school on Jan. 13. The 18-year-old, who said he never eats anything for lunch other than french fries or tater tots, said he would consider buying the milk, which will sell for 60 cents.

Senior Lindsay Hebert, 17, grabbed a bottle on her way to class. She said the chocolate version tasted like "ice cream soup." Her friend Greg Hochsprung, who is also 17, said the beverage was less sweet than other flavored milk but that it still tasted good.

Those were the types of comments Art Dunham, assistant director of Pinellas County Food Services, said he had been hoping to hear.

"We are aware that teenagers need more calcium than they're taking in currently to be healthy adults," Dunham said. "For whatever reason, they're not choosing milk products, especially at these three schools where Coca-Cola and Pepsi products are in front of their faces pretty much wherever they turn."

Boca Ciega, Countryside and St. Petersburg high schools moved lunch to the last period of the day in August 2003 in an effort to maximize academic time and to improve student achievement after budget cuts reduced adult supervision in the cafeteria.

Administrators said they hope an uninterrupted day with an optional lunch period at 1:05 p.m. - the end of the school day - would provide time for extended tutoring and mentoring and reduce the need for lunch-time discipline.

A survey administered to students and staff shows mixed results.

Most students say they like the late lunch. Between 56 and 77 percent who responded to the survey said they are taking advantage of food products for sale in vending machines, but only 44 to 52 percent said they are purchasing the more healthful items the schools have been stocking.

Administrators, on the other hand, cite benefits to the late lunch. They concur that it has contributed to higher student achievement by reducing behavior problems and that it has discouraged students from skipping class to attend two lunch periods to visit their friends.

St. Petersburg High principal Julie Janssen, who piloted the program when she was principal at Countryside High, acknowledged that teachers have mixed feelings about the extended lunch.

She said she considers making more healthful items such as Healthy Cow available to students a good compromise.

Balancing good nutrition with maximizing the academic day is a dilemma many school officials face, said Rita Osberg, a Velda Farms representative. Several districts interested in steering students away from soft drink products, including Polk, Clay, Osceola and Lee counties, have introduced Healthy Cow.

"It's 100 percent milk," Osberg said. "It's not one of those things called a "dairy beverage.' "

Osberg was referring to milk-based products that have just enough milk - 51 percent - to be labeled with the "Real" dairy seal.

Such products have been showing up in schools since the recent U.S. Surgeon General's office recommendation that school age children consume 800 to 1,300 milligrams of calcium and at least 200 international units of vitamin D every day.

A 10-ounce serving of Healthy Cow contains 375 milligrams of calcium and 125 units of vitamin D. That's a start, said Dolores McCoy, nutritionist for Pinellas County Schools.

"You can't expect kids to make the leap from potato chips to carrot sticks," she said. "I don't see changes coming really fast, but we can take small steps."

[Last modified January 26, 2005, 00:13:15]