District 68 Board Considers Switch to Hormone-Free Milk

currently offers milk to students that is produced by cows that may have been injected with an artifical growth hormone. 

Which milk students receive at lunch is decided by which milk supplier receives a bid from the district. The district's current supplier, Quality, was chosen as a low-bid last year. Quality provides Kemps Grade A milk, which is not strictly hormone free. 

The district is again looking for bids from milk suppliers for the next two years. Quality will probably provide a low bid in this year's milk bid again.

But District 68 Board Members expressed their desire Monday to consider only hormone-free milk for the two-year bid. 

Artifical growth hormones are banned in Europe and Canada, said Diane Moser, food service director for District 68. The U.S. government currently allows cows to be injected with bovine growth hormone, she said. However, there are concerns about the health of the cows treated with the hormone and the people who consume their milk.

Many brands on U.S. shelves, such as Dean's and Prairie Farm, are hormone-free, she said. 

The state of Illinois does not require school districts to offer hormone-free milk, but Moser and Board Member Patti Cash said parents would support the switch to hormone-free only. 

"I'm against the hormone milk," Cash said. "I think if you poll 100 parents in the district, 90 parents would not want hormones in the milk and 10 would probably not know the difference." 

District 68 has never required hormone-free milk to be provided in its bidding but has chosen its milk supplier for the cheapest price. Milk produced by cows that have been injected with growth hormone has been cheaper. 

While the district goes out to bid for milk, District 68 is not required to take the lowest bidder for its milk supply. That means the district could choose a more expensive bid that will provide hormone-free milk. 

Choosing hormone-free milk would not affect the price of milk for families, officials said. 

School Board President Tom Ruggio and Superintendent Cathy Skinner produced materials about the growth hormone for board members to look over. The school board will vote on the matter at its May 21 meeting.