Mifflin County district weighs USDA decision to allow whole milk as state guidance lags
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Summary
District nutrition contractors told the school board that a USDA memo effective Jan. 14 allows whole milk to be offered in schools, but Pennsylvania guidance and state-mandated menu software have not yet been updated; administrators warned that changing menus mid-audit could jeopardize reimbursements.
The Mifflin County School Board heard Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent memo (dated Jan. 14) permits whole milk to be offered to students, but district staff and contracted food-service managers urged caution because Pennsylvania has not issued implementation guidance and the state’s audit cycle is underway.
Superintendent Mr. Varner introduced representatives from Metz Culinary Management and the district’s food-service team, who outlined operational and compliance concerns. “January 14 is when the memo came out,” the K‑12 representative said, noting the USDA origin of the policy and that the Pennsylvania Department of Education had not yet supplied directions for local implementation. Dennis Michaels, district manager for the contractor, described the state administrative review process and warned that “adding whole milk tomorrow would interfere with all of those recipes that are currently at the state level being reviewed.”
Why it matters: the district is in a monthly administrative review and must submit recipes and menus for audit. If a district alters menus or nutritional components during the review, state auditors could flag menu compliance and, in extreme cases, require the district to return federal meal reimbursements. Board members also raised budget implications: presenters said whole milk costs roughly 40¢ per unit versus about 28¢ for the milk currently served, and modeled scenarios in which modest uptake (5–35% of students switching) could increase annual food costs by thousands of dollars.
Operational constraints included software and supplier readiness. Presenters said the state‑approved menu software (identified in the packet as Premier/Premier Web) has not yet been updated to adjust how saturated fat from whole milk is counted in nutritional analyses. “The software is not written within the [system]… it’s not updated to… take those saturated fat grams away from milk only,” the district contractor said, and added that vendors were awaiting formal guidance before rolling out software patches.
Board reaction and next steps: Members generally supported a cautious approach. One board member called on families to contact state legislators but acknowledged the district must follow state audit requirements. The superintendent said the district will continue to seek PDE guidance and “work diligently to obtain further implementation guidance from USDA and will provide additional technical assistance as it becomes available.” No policy change or vote was taken; the district plans to monitor state guidance, finish the current audit cycle and then consider pilot or phased changes to menus after the April site visit.
