Dale McClellan

A lifelong dairy farmer, Dale is president of M & B Products in Tampa. M & B opened in June 1977 as a dairy farm and expanded to milk and juice processing and packaging in June 1987. Before M & B, Dale spent any available nights and weekends at Sunny Brook Dairy, his grandparents’ dairy farm and milk processing plant. M & B Products focuses juice and dairy products for schools, hospitals, senior services, prisons and other institutions. (Photo by Ron O’Conner/Florida Farm Credit)

---

Given the choice between flavored milk (chocolate or strawberry) and white milk, which would you choose? What if the flavored milk had the same number of calories as 2 percent reduced-fat white milk, was fat-free — and still tasted great? At M & B Products in Tampa, our challenge was to determine what hundreds of school kids would choose – and what they would actually drink.

About two years ago, we learned of local and state proposals to remove flavored milk from schools as part of the national debate over childhood obesity. However, the solution to the problem cannot be solved by removing a single food, but only by understanding the greater need to provide kids with healthy, balanced meals and opportunities for daily physical activity.

We also knew that removing flavored milk from school menus was not a good idea because a national study showed that milk consumption at schools dropped 35 percent when flavored milk was not available to students.

Since then, M & B Products has worked diligently to create chocolate and strawberry milk that is fat-free, contains only 130 calories in an 8-ounce serving and only 22 grams of sugar. Not only that, but we maintained the same excellent flavor and consistency of the chocolate and strawberry milk you have always known. At the time of this change we also made our flavored fat-free milks naturally flavored and colored.

We reformulated our flavored milks because of our desire to keep them as an option in the school lunch lines. From our experience, we know that 70 percent of the milk chosen in schools is flavored, and we know that milk can’t do a body good unless it is consumed. Flavored milk contains the same nine essential nutrients as white milk, including vitamin D, calcium and potassium – “nutrients of concern” that most kids fail to get enough of, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Studies show that school-aged children who drink flavored milk actually drink more milk overall, have better quality diets, do not have higher intakes of added sugar or total fat, and are just as likely to be at a healthy weight compared to kids who do not consume flavored milk. The dietary guidelines confirmed the importance of milk and milk products in a healthy diet by maintaining the recommendation of 3 daily cups of low-fat or fat-free milk or milk products for those ages 9 and older, and 2 cups for children ages 2 to 8.

We worked closely with the Dairy Council of Florida on what we could do to keep flavored milk as an option in schools. Based on its advice to decrease the fat, calories and sugar content, we then teamed up with Dr. Beverly Girard, the food service director of Sarasota County Schools, who helped and encouraged us to test new formulations of sugar-reduced chocolate and strawberry milk. Our goal was to create a beverage that maintained the flavor and desirability of the existing product. We challenged numerous flavor houses to help us develop a product to achieve our desired milk.

Within weeks, we were ready to test a pilot program in the Sarasota County Schools. We lowered the calories from 150 to 140 per 8-ounce serving, decreased the sugar to 22 grams and had 0.5 percent fat. Our test results showed that not only did milk consumption not decrease; there was very little if any negative effect. From these positive results, in January 2011 we were able to change our remaining 15 (now 20) Florida counties to the new product.

From excellent reception, it told us that we could make healthier flavored milk and still provide students with the nutrients they need. Our experience says a lot about team work, and that with open minds and the desire to keep healthy, nutritious options available to students, a lot can be done without eliminating a good choice from the lunch line.

We then pushed the envelope and reduced the calories even more to 130 by simply using fat-free milk without altering the formula. Our final product is fat-free, 130 calories, only 22 grams of sugar (10 grams added, 12 grams occur naturally in all milk) in an 8-ounce serving, and all natural color and flavor chocolate and strawberry milk.

By the beginning of the current school year, all of the counties we service with milk were on the new formulation of flavored milks. There has been no negative impact from the reduction of fat, calories and sugar. The students are still consuming the same amount of milk and therefore getting the same amount of nutrients. There was an independent study conducted by Prime Consulting Group that confirmed this, and we are proud to be a part of the solution to such an important concern.

At M & B Products, we continue to look for more ways to adapt our product line to ensure that school food service, under the direction of the Florida School Nutrition Association, has the options for fruit juice and milk products that best fit the needs of the students. We have always been willing and available to be flexible. Under this direction we know the importance of heeding the advice of those who know more about the nutritional needs of those who consume our products. We need the Florida School Nutrition Association, the Dairy Council of Florida and the Department of Agriculture to help us adapt even under negative circumstances. We would like to send a special thank you to all those who have played a part in ensuring healthy options for students remaining in the lunch room serving lines.