to think the free milk in nursery/school should be Organic?

[tryingtobemarypoppins2]

And full fat. We have semi skimmed???

It's not free. It costs the taxpayer over £50 million per year.

Switching to organic will increase this.

The Government doesn't have any spare money. So what would you cut to provide additional resources to fund an increase here?

WHy even bother with free milk? (sorry, can't remember which poster asked this)

Because once past the age of 5, children with FSM are entitled to free milk. Often (but not always), FSM children have had no breakfast, get no snack for breaktime. Sometimes they have a poor diet at home. Milk gives them nutrients they may not otherwise be getting,

OP, YABU. Organic is a luxury, not a necessity.

Us TAs were told yesterday that we were losing our London fringe allowance and sick pay from next year. If the government then started paying for organic milk I would explode.

OP - you're being unreasonable to expect the taxpayer/government to pay for organic milk, but interesting study by Huber - the KOALA study looking at 2000 odd infants and associations with eczema/wheeze/atopy etc. There does appear to be a loose association with organic dairy products and lower levels of eczema (but not wheeze or other allergies) so worth considering if your child is severely affected, but wouldn't push it on all children as a blanket thing.

I do think it's important to have free milk for all children not just free meals entitled. If it's going to survive the cuts at all. Otherwise, much as it shouldn't matter, some won't take it up because they appear different. To be demanding free organic milk in these more than tight times seems naive and unreasonable. Schools are likely to be making unprecedented, in recent times, cuts and I think there might just be a revolt if the government also introduced organic milk.

smokinaces DS2 used to be dairy intolerant so couldn't have cow's milk. At nursery I had to send in soya milk, but once he started school they actually provided it. It was the same with school dinners. AFAIK there was no stigma at all in not having cows milk.

Does organic milk cost much more? We don't buy milk that often but I know our local health food shop sells 2 litres of organic milk for 99p.

jemimamop thanks for that, will look into it. If not, will have to get him some alpro soya cartons and send them in so he's not left out. Its not the cows vs soya that worries me - more the him not being able to have any milk at all as it would be cows milk.

humans dont really need milk to function so yes YABU
be happy with what you get or be a snoib and buy organic full fat milk everyday for the nursery

Not organic no, I can't afford it and the taxpayer certainly can't. Full fat for nursery, semi-skimmed for school IMO. It's free milk though, so I think you're being precious to expect organic.

YANBU, the dairy industry is puke-makingly cruel, it's worth going the extra inch to make it a teeny bit better.

YABU

whether organic, laced with LSD or hand expressed by vestal vigins, drinking a different mammel's milk is revolting and completely unnecessary beyond weaning.

and rice cakes, give the world rice cakes, and dried apricots (not the orange coloured ones, they have sulphur) and raisins, give them raisins...

it is not going to kill your kid to have non organic milk once a day. You can choose what they have at home, but when the councils are scrimping on budget you cannot expect them to fork out for your whims.

So, if its only for exclusive consumption of dairy products, offering organic at school would only benefit to those having organic milk at home, and given the confidence intervals for it, I'd be pretty sceptical that it is genuine anyway. Plus, it only looked at up to 2, so irrelevant to school age children. Interesting though.

Growth hormones are banned in the EU, so not relevant to anyone having any milk at all in the EU. And the 7 reasons are personal opinion, not science.

I'm not opposed to organic, in fact we eat mostly organic, free range etc, as I prefer the flavour, and feel that more extensive production is more ethical in some ways, just exaggeration of its benefits.

Yep. Free milk in nurseries should be organic. Also, horse-riding lessons should be a universal entitlement, every family should have a statutory right to a private 150ft garden, and all 18-year-olds should receive a free car on completion of their A levels.

I mean YANBU, in a sense, but dream on.

gapbear For the preservation of our planet and our food chain, organic (and not just dairy products) is most certainly a necessity.

If something is free then you take what you get, if you want different then you pay for it!

Gotart, then you had better come up with a genius business idea, put it into practice, then donate all profits to funding organic food for all. The thing is, the money has to come from somewhere, doesn't it?

Bubbleymummy, it may not cost much more when doing a weekly shop for a family, but multiply it up for all under fives and free meals entitled overs and it is a huge sum of money in times when arguably essential services are being cut.

YABU. An 'upgrade' in this way would cost shitloads of money that could be much better spent elsewhere. Just appreciate what you're getting, it's free afterall. If that's not good enough for the little darlings, buy it yourself.

YABU.
It is free!
As hidenseek said, if it's not good enough for you, buy it yourself.

No and No. Why does it need to be full fat? I thought that over 5's can drink any milk? Skimmed milk has the same nutrients and vitamins and there's really no justification for organic milk.

I remember the little bottles of full fat, cream-laden, nicely warming in the sun ready for breaktime...

I think we should stop free milk. I would prefer for TAs to be funded than free milk. Organic - you have to be joking. Full fat - whatever is cheapest IMO, most kids don't look like they need more fat.

I think if youre getting it for free you should take what your given and be grateful. Sorry :)

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe this post is with regard the under 3's.....in my sons case a 12 month old.