What they Want to Put in Your Milk……

Milk has no added sugar, but the dairy industry is asking the Food and Drug Administration to allow it to add artificial sweeteners in the hopes of creating a lower-calorie milk product that will attract more consumers. The only catch: They don't want to announce the reduction in calories due to the sweetener on the label.Currently the FDA regulation states that milk can contain only "nutritive sweeteners," which have calories and are recognized as safe by the FDA.

The International Dairy Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have asked the agency to allow the industry to use "any safe and suitable" sweetener and "allow optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk (chocolate flavoring added to milk) to be sweetened with any safe and suitable sweetener — including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame."

The industry believes that offering lower-calorie flavored milks, such as chocolate milk, will benefit school children who are more inclined to drink flavored milks. This lower-calorie product, they believe, will help in the fight against childhood obesity.

Do you think the milk industry should be allowed to add artificial sweeteners to create a lower-calorie product?