Dems Are Coming for Kids’ Lunch Meat and Chocolate Milk

U.S. agencies under President Joe Biden have proposed restrictions on deli meats and are considering a ban on chocolate milk in school cafeterias.

The Department of Agriculture is “considering a ban on flavored milk—including chocolate, strawberry, and other varieties—in elementary and middle schools when it adopts new standards for school meals,” the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. While supporters say flavored milk contributes to childhood obesity, opponents say the ban “will lead to children drinking less milk.”

“We want to take a product that most kids like and that has nine essential nutrients in it and say, ‘You can’t drink this, you have to drink plain’?” asked Urban School Food Alliance executive director Katie Wilson.

The department, in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration, in February issued goals to reduce sodium from foods, including deli meats. Other Democrat-led agencies have followed suit, with New York City officials banning processed meats in “schools, hospitals, and via other programs by 2025,” the Journal reported.

While Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the restrictions would crack down on “diet-related diseases” that “are on the rise,” other Biden administration officials likely disagree. The administration’s 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a joint venture of Vilsack’s department and the Department of Health and Human Services, includes Fatima Cody Stanford, a doctor who thinks that “diet and exercise have little impact” on obesity, Fox News reported.

The administration’s commitment to good meals for kids only extends so far. The Agriculture Department announced last year that it will exclude low-income students from the National School Lunch Program if the students’ public school doesn’t comply with the administration’s LGBT policies, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Left-wing officials, meanwhile, have long tried to regulate foods that Americans eat. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, attempted to ban both adults and children from buying large sugary drinks. New York State’s highest court overturned the ban in 2014.