Here we are at the blessed end of another “What goes around, comes around” villainized food cycle. We’ve lived through the incredible, edible egg sequence as it moved from banal staple to society’s ovoid death grenade to, now, compact superfood.

Butter? The same. On every table until driven into obscurity by claims of clogged arteries and skyrocketing cholesterol counts, replaced by a spun oil product with an ingredient panel of unpronounceable chemicals that was a 6 line paragraph long. Until, as belated Nutritional Science™ admitted, the trans fats required to hold the goo together probably killed more people than churned “sweet cream, salt” ever did. And voilà! Butter is back from the abyss, with its own health endorsement. Turns out that simpler is better, and if you can manage the grass-fed, with its plethora of omega-3 benefits, well…SCORE.

The key is everything in moderation and the best everything you can swing. It’s not rocket science.

Although it might be.

The progressive nanny staters have always had a terrible time with dairy. They absolutely despise it, and have been on a vindictive campaign to kill it off – and, coincidentally ruin America’s children’s bones and teeth at the same time – as far back as I can remember. Certainly since Ebola’s infant and toddler days, so, like 40 years.

I know those bovine bashers have to be seething that the European Union – and Irish in particular – are actually acting on wiping cows from the face of the earth. All American alternative advocates have been able to do is shriek how dangerous cows are for your health while being positively murderous for Mother Gaia (“The HUMAN League” *SNORT*).

Which is, yeah, harmless and mostly annoying unless your doctor and health insurance go all in on forcing you to swallow margarine, and recommend substituting mountains of juice boxes for your preschoolers/elementary kiddos instead of milk/ice cold water.

Nobody makes money off of water if you keep a pitcher in the fridge.

But there’s been another venue open to these busy bodies and they act with impunity. As they are wont to do, they manipulate the system through their dominance of the government bureaucracy. They’ve been doing so through anti-dairy edicts for school lunch and welfare programs for decades.

…Schools participating in the Agriculture Department’s school meals program haven’t been permitted to serve either whole milk—which has 3.25% milk fat—or 2% milk, since 2012, when new rules went into effect intended to align school offerings with the country’s dietary guidelines. Those recommendations advise that children over the age of two should consume either nonfat or 1% milk as part of an effort to limit how much saturated fat they consume.

OMG. I have always gone ballistic at the stupid percentage game these Ag geniuses play! Whole milk is ONLY 3% fat for crying out loud! It’s not a stick of butter! The kids aren’t drinking 6 cartons at a sitting – they’re having 1 to wash down whatever vile thing the school is serving that day and no child is going to drink skim willingly. He’s grabbing the apple juice box.

How about the “sugars” in that vs the tiny bit of fat in a yummy, cold carton of moo-juice?

As bad as the anti-milk bias is in schools, I posted in March that the same USDA bunch is moving dairy allowances out of the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program. As I said then, their argle-bargle justification is a crock of cow farts.

…The USDA reported that the proposed updates to the WIC program are “science-based” revisions from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine that “best meet [participants’] nutritional needs and foster healthy growth and development.”

“USDA is committed to advancing maternal and child health through WIC, helping mothers, babies and young kids thrive,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated in November. “These proposed changes will strengthen WIC – already an incredibly powerful program – by ensuring it provides foods that reflect the latest nutrition science to support healthy eating and bright futures.”

Biden admin plans to reduce milk allowance for families in WIC program, substitute soy-based products https://t.co/xAKSyFNq6Y

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) March 10, 2023

I can’t finish the rant up without including the woman who did more to ruin school lunch and waste more tonnage of comestibles in her short reign of tyrannical terror than any human being on the planet. Only to turn around and grift off her sainted status to sell packaged glucose glop to her adoring fans.

Michelle Obama is utterly detestable.

Thankfully, it looks as if whole milk’s time to “circle back” (might be paywalled) may be upon us and not a Sunny Delight juice box too soon.

School Cafeterias Might Serve Whole Milk Again
Legislation would let schools offer drink that opponents say delivers unneeded fat

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to bring a banned substance back to schools: whole milk.

A bill approved Tuesday by the House Education and Workforce Committee in a 26-13 vote would allow schools to offer whole and 2% milk. Supporters, including the dairy industry and more than 100 lawmakers, say that children are more likely to drink milk when it tastes better to them. Opponents say children can get the same nutrients from lower-fat milk while keeping saturated fat in check.

“We have seen students opt out of consuming milk altogether if they don’t have access to a variety that they enjoy,” Rep. G.T. Thompson (R., Pa.), the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said during Tuesday’s debate. “Let’s face it: the only way to benefit from milk’s essential nutrients is to consume it.”

Amazingly, even some Democrats are on board.

…But fellow Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier of Washington, a pediatrician, said offering additional milk choices is likely to encourage children to choose milk over another, less healthy beverage.

“I would much rather have children drinking milk, even whole milk, than juice,” said Schrier, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Naturally, the “kids eat too much saturated fat” lobby is squawking like the dickens.

…But Meghan Maroney, who leads federal child-nutrition programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food and health watchdog group, said most children already consume too much saturated fat, which would be exacerbated with the addition of higher-fat milk.

“Congress should not be reversing this hard-fought win by making school meals less healthy by allowing whole milk,” she said.

Much of the debate around whole milk centers on the question of whether fat from dairy products is different from saturated fat coming from other foods.

Some researchers have conducted studies showing that full-fat dairy products haven’t led to a higher risk of weight gain in children and may help them feel full more quickly.

I don’t have a clue what this chica is talking about with her “hard-fought win” rhetoric. What and where’s this “win” of hers?

The fact is, kids are fatter and unhealthier than ever thanks to their eating habits which have had very little to do with dairy and a lot of that is thanks to federal nutritional health guidelines.

Schmaybe those Federal Child Nutritionists™ should look at THAT instead of having yet another juice box at school or home. After all, they’re the ones who still have Frosted Mini-Wheats listed as healthier than the incredible egg.

Science™ – pffft.