New recommendations regarding the school district’s food and nutritional practices were unanimously approved by the Thursday night.
Mansfield Public Schools Wellness Policy Advisory Council has been reviewing specific nutrition requests from parents. At the council's Feb. 28 meeting, officials formulated initiatives for the 2011-2012 school year. Some of the council's recommendations, such as the change to milk sweetened with cane sugar instead of corn syrup, are already in their experimental stages.
Back in December of 2010, students and faculty at helped Guida's Milk & Ice Cream test Healthy Moo™, a chocolate milk that contains no high-fructose corn syrup.
On Thursday night, Beth Gankofskie, director of the schools’ food service program, told the school board that Mansfield Middle School was the only school in the state to test the new line of flavored milks and that the trial “went over pretty well.”
Due to its success, Gankofskie said that the food service program will consider paring down the flavored milk selection for next year, and may offer Healthy Moo™ as the chocolate milk of choice.
that each 8-ounce serving of Healthy Moo™ has a 1 percent milk fat content, contains 20 grams of sucrose and provides 140 calories, making Healthy Moo™ a “healthy alternative” to other flavored milks.
The wellness council is also reviewing the district’s pre-school snack program in order to provide students with the most nutritious options available.
Breakfast cereals are currently being limited to low-sugar options such as Raisin Bran™, and the schools are planning to eliminate food items such as whole-wheat toaster pastries that mimic Pop Tarts™.
The schools are also looking to expand their menus in order to accommodate the religious practices of some of their students, along with those who have food allergies, such as Celiac disease – an allergy to gluten.
Meanwhile, the schools are no longer considering a salad bar, after determining that it would pose sanitary issues and be too expensive to maintain.
Gankofskie said the council is exploring more options and will continue to assess additional food and nutritional practices that meet the necessary state and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requirements.
There is no nutritional benefit gained by replacing high fructose corn syrup with another caloric sweetener. According to the American Dietetic Association, “high fructose corn syrup…is nutritionally equivalent to sucrose. Once absorbed into the blood stream, the two sweeteners are indistinguishable.” It is a popular misconception that high fructose corn syrup is more ‘processed’ than cane or beet sugar, fruit juice concentrate, or agave nectar production. In fact, they all go through remarkably similar production methods that aim to refine the raw botanical material into a robust and versatile sweetener that can be formulated into a wide range of foods and beverages. According to Michael Jacobson from the Center for Science in the Public Interest notes, “to pretend that a product sweetened with sugar is healthier than a product sweetened by high-fructose corn syrup is totally misguided.” As many dietitians agree, all sugars should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced lifestyle. Consumers can see the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup at www.CornSugar.com. Audrae Erickson President Corn Refiners Association
Processed sugar is not healthy in any form--especially from subsidized genetically engineered corn. How much of that artificial red drink (from the corn refiners commercials) do you drink each day and feed to your children? What do you mean "in moderation?" Audrae Erickson: Those first corn refiners commercials indicate that stupid people avoid HFCS and highly processed foods. Many people like myself were insulted by those commercials, and started campaigns to protest propaganda from people like you and the corn refiners. Highly processed foods are destroying the health of Americans and may be causing disease, death, and destruction more insidious than the holocaust of last century--especially when viewed someday from the future--and the health and death tolls are added up. And you, Audrae, are a part of this health crisis. You may choose to damage your own children's health with those red drinks, but for many of us--we care what our children and grandchildren consume. Unlike you, I am not paid to write these comments, but I deeply care about the health of children. From a health, science, and history teacher.