The Government-Industry Conspiracy that Promotes Crap Food in School

By Michele Simon

August 5, 2014 | People often ask me, “How does lobbying work?” Last week it was with fat and sugar, when the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) hosted its 32nd annual Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party. Some 6,000 bowls of ice cream were served up to Sen. Tom Harkin, Reps. Pete Sessions, Robert Aderholt, Jeff Denham, John Shimkus, Ron Kind and Lamar Smith, among others, according to Politico [3].

Dairy lobbyists are ever present in Washington, and their efforts usually pay off. For example, last year when the IDFA implored [4] the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give dairy foods a pass in the new snack food guidelines for schools, the agency capitulated [5], opening school doors to even more junk food [6], such as YoCrunch Lowfat Yogurt with M&Ms [7].

This is just one of many examples I uncovered in a report I published last month, "Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods [8]" (PDF). The dairy industry, propped up by government, has convinced us of the health benefits of milk and other dairy products. The assumption that eating dairy is essential to the diet has obstructed our ability to criticize federal government support for unhealthy dairy products, of which there are many.