Fresh milk should be provided to every student as a matter of public policy, the Secondary and Elementary School Principals’ Association said in a statement on Sunday, after the government announced the cancelation of a milk program.
The government in September launched a four-year, NT$4.4 billion (US$134.49 million) program targeting elementary-school students with the aim of increasing students’ calcium intake and supporting the local dairy industry, as Taiwan prepares to remove tariffs on milk imports from New Zealand next year.
From the start, the program drew complaints from teachers and administrators about supply shortages, lack of refrigeration storage space and interruptions caused by the twice-a-week distribution schedule.
Photo: Taipei Times
As a result, some schools opted instead to give students eight cartons of shelf stable milk once per month.
The Executive Yuan on Dec. 19 announced it would cancel the program starting next semester due to an insufficient cold-chain distribution system. It said that most schools had already switched to providing students with ultra-high-temperature (UHT) processed milk.
“Ideally the policy prioritizes consumption of domestic fresh milk, but that is not happening — not even in urban areas where up to 95 percent of kids are still drinking UHT milk,” association chairman Chen Ching-yi (陳清義) said. “One problem is that we do not have refrigeration equipment in place everywhere, and delivery times of milk producers might not match the students’ break periods.”
Schools that tried to implement the program found that students were not able to consume fresh milk when it was delivered, and school staff were burdened with storing the milk and preparing it for students in a way that followed food safety procedures, he said.
Many schools simply resolved to use UHT milk instead, he added.
“I believe the idea is well-intentioned, as it seeks to improve students’ health,” he said. “I hope the government can find a way to implement it, as it helps local dairy farmers and improves the nutrition and health of students.”
Chen said that distribution should be diversified according to regional differences.
“For example, in urban areas with a high density of supermarkets and distributors, students can receive fresh milk from supermarkets by presenting student ID cards or milk coupons,” he said.
In more rural areas, the government could subsidize the installation of cold-storage equipment at schools, he said.
“I think this is a public health measure that should be supported and should not be stopped rashly because of insufficient supporting measures,” he said.
The non-governmental organization Action Alliance on Basic Education and the John Tung Foundation have also said that the policy should be refined, not canceled, given that many elementary school-age kids in Taiwan do not get enough calcium.
Additional reporting by CNA
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