NORWAY — Paris, Oxford and West Paris elementary schools were among the five winners in a milk-drinking contest for Maine students during National Breakfast Week this month.
The Get MOOOOVIng with Milk competition was held in schools throughout the state from March 6-10.
The average number of servings per student was 7 at Paris Elementary School, 7.1 at Oxford Elementary School and 7.7 at Agnes Gray School in West Paris.
The other two winners were Benton Elementary School in Benton with an average of 7.1 servings per student and Solon Elementary School in Solon with an average of 7.6 servings per student.
Catherine Hoffmann, school programs manager for the Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council and the Maine Dairy Promotion Board, said, “We were looking for a fun way to add a little excitement to the week and challenged schools to promote milk consumption among their students.”
At the end of the week, schools submitted the number of cartons of milk consumed by students for breakfast and lunch and the student population to calculate the average per student, she said.
There was no breakdown on the type of milk the students drank, but SAD 17 Food Service Director Jodi Truman said chocolate milk is favored over white in the Oxford Hills School District in Paris.
Truman said the U.S. Department of Agriculture mandates that schools offer at least two types of milk, so SAD 17 offers white and chocolate, both fat-free.
Managers in the schools are directed to put the white in front of the chocolate in the milk case to encourage consumption of the white. Students are not required to take milk but are encouraged to, Truman said.
She said chocolate milk has been offered to students “forever,” and there are no plans to pull it from the lunch and breakfast menu “because kids would not drink milk then.”
A new study by the National Dairy Council on Milk said that in 58 schools nationwide where flavored options were removed or limited to only certain days, milk consumption dropped on average by 35 percent.
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Hannah Strohl, 9, a pupil at Oxford Elementary School, said chocolate milk can be too much of a good thing. She said she drinks plain milk at home.
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