‘How could we vote against milk?’
According to research by the dairy industry, one reason milk was becoming less popular with schoolchildren was because of its unattractive packaging – those old paper cartons. So the industry developed round, 8-ounce plastic bottles, which kids then praised as making the milk more “cool,” easier to drink and tastier. Now, Deanna Sessions told the House Agriculture Committee, “More than 200 schools in Idaho participate in this program and are serving milk in this cool packaging.” Sessions gave a presentation on Idaho’s dairy industry to the Ag Committee today – just before the panel took up HB 485, the bill to make milk Idaho’s state drink. As a result, when the representatives debated the milk bill, Chairman Tom Trail was sipping chocolate milk, and others were enjoying milk, cheese, little plastic black-and-white cows and other goodies presented to them at the end of the Idaho dairy presentation.
“I think the stage has successfully been set” to consider the bill, Trail told the panel. Rep. Branden Durst, D-Boise, who is co-sponsoring the milk bill with Trail, then told the committee that 26 states have a state beverage “or a spirit, in the case of Alabama – they have whisky.” Eighteen states have milk as their official beverage. Durst said milk consumption has been decreasing since 1988, and soda pop consumption has been climbing. “I think there’s a strong correlation between that and the amount of obesity we have with kids,” he told the committee. “The dietary decisions that kids are making now are going to impact their rates of heart disease in the future. … We as a government have a responsibility to do something about this.” Durst got backing for his official-milk bill from an array of Idaho ag and dairy groups. And he told the committee, “I just had a glass this morning – it was fantastic.” Added Trail, “I had a glass at lunch.”
Rep. Bert Stevenson, R-Rupert, said he wondered what he was to tell his grandkids, who he’s been long trying to convince that “growing sugar beets is a positive.” Durst told him, “I believe they’re essential products to the cookies that I’m going to be dipping in my glass of milk.” And though Rep. Liz Chavez, D-Lewiston, asked, “How could we vote against milk? It’s un-American, I think – definitely un-Idaho,” Stevenson still did just that. He was the only one, however, and the bill was sent to the full House with a recommendation that it pass.
