Schumer: USDA to add Greek yogurt to nationwide school-lunch program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has added Greek yogurt to its list of items available in the school-lunch program nationwide.

The office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) announced the USDA’s decision in a news release issued Tuesday.

The department this fall will add protein-rich Greek yogurt as an option on its foods list for school lunches across the country. It was initially available in schools in 12 states in a pilot program.

Following the “successful” pilot program, the USDA concluded that Greek yogurt had a “high demand” and that it should offer the product in school lunches across the U.S., according to Schumer’s release.

Several yogurt companies with New York operations have worked with the senator on “advancing the popularity and availability” of Greek yogurt in New York and across the country, the release stated.

The companies include Norwich–based Chobani, Inc.; Miami, Fla.–based Alpina Foods, which operates a yogurt plant in Batavia in Genesee County; and Luxembourg–based Fage, which operates its U.S. facility in Johnstown in Fulton County.

 “In the last few years, New York has quickly become the Greek [yogurt] capital of the country, and Upstate New York dairy farms from Western New York to the North Country to the Hudson Valley benefitted from that growth,” Schumer said in the release. “So the USDA’s decision to include Greek yogurt, permanently, in their nationwide school-lunch program is a nutritional benefit to our kids; an affordable option for local school boards and a boon to New York dairy farmers and yogurt producers; and it will increase demand for Greek yogurt across the country, while at the same time providing another healthy food option in the lunchroom.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com