Feds add Greek yogurt to school lunches

Chobani Greek Yogurt

The Obama administration wants to add Greek yogurt to school lunch menus.

On Monday, the Department of Agriculture announced it was looking to buy the yogurt for schools participating in a federally assisted program that subsidizes school lunches.

A department official said in a statement that the introduction of Greek yogurt, which is high in protein, was aimed at helping schools offer a variety of healthy foods to kids.Because yogurt goes bad easily, the rollout will start with just four states: Arizona, Idaho, New York and Tennessee.

Those states were chosen because they “represent different regions of the country with varying proximity to yogurt manufacturers and will help test distribution through different warehousing models,” according to a USDA spokeswoman.

Sen. Charles Schumer D-N.Y. has pushed the USDA to add Greek yogurt to the federal program since last June, and cheered the announcement on Monday.

“Schools in New York, and the other three states participating in the pilot, will soon see that Greek yogurt is an affordable and nutritious high-protein option for their menus,” he said in a statement.

Feds add Greek yogurt to school lunches – The Hills RegWatch