First, Michelle Obama called for healthier school lunches -- and kids complained
that the first lady's menus left them hungry. Now, the United States
Department of Agriculture has green-lighted a pilot program to serve
trendy Greek yogurt in school cafeterias in New York, Idaho, Arizona,
and Tennessee. If all goes well this fall, Greek yogurt may became a
staple in Washington's $11 billion school lunch program in some 100,000
schools.
In
one sense, it's an example of America's growing European Union-style
nanny state -- not to mention crony capitalism and insider influence.
Two of the biggest cheerleaders
of Greek yogurt are New York's Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and
Kirsten Gillibrand; and there also are Greek yogurt's powerful
Washington lobbyists, including two former high-ranking USDA officials.
They were hired by Greek yogurt maker Chobani which was founded in
upstate New York by Hamdi Ulukaya
-- a Turkish immigrant with business and yogurt-making savvy (he's now
a billionaire) who knows how to pull the levers of power to become
even richer. Interestingly, Greek yogurt -- perhaps with a wink from
the first lady -- got on the USDA's fast track (eight months from start
to finish) rather than plodding through an approval process that,
according to Washington insiders, can take years for the school lunch
program.
No comments:
Post a Comment