U.S. pushes cheese sales while warning about saturated fat

Americans are buying more low-fat milk products due to government warnings about saturated fat, leaving a surplus of whole milk and milk fat. But at the same time, the government—through a nonprofit called Dairy Management, a marketing arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture—has been looking for ways to get Americans to eat more dairy, especially cheese, according to a report in the New York Times. For instance, Dairy Management worked with Domino’s to make a line of pizzas with 40 per cent more cheese, and paid for a $12 million marketing campaign, in just one example of its initiatives. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Africulture is the same agency behind a federal push against obesity. Dairy Management’s annual budget is about $140 million, most of which comes from a government-mandated fee on the dairy industry, but it also receives several million dollars a year from the Agriculture Department which appoints some of its board members and approves its marketing campaigns.

New York Times