Controversial sweetener removed from SFUSD chocolate milk

Controversial sweetener removed from SFUSD chocolate milk

The controversial sweetener high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) will be removed from the chocolate milk provided in San Francisco Unified School District cafeterias as of the first week in February. Berkeley Farms, the dairy that supplies milk to SFUSD, agreed to reformulate the chocolate milk in response to repeated requests from SFUSD Student Nutrition Director Ed Wilkins.

There's lots of controversy about offering chocolate milk in cafeterias to begin with, but the use of HFCS inflamed the debate still more. It's widely believed that HFCS is more harmful than other sweeteners and that its effects on the body may be to blame for the obesity crisis, though the science doesn't unambiguously back that up.

"While we continue to have concerns about the milk having too much added sweetener in general, at least the concerns related specifically to HFCS have been eliminated," says