Posted on: Friday, March 11, 2005

Milk, juice price hike explained

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Yes, public school cafeterias are now charging more for milk, but it's not for the reason you think.

It's not the other reason, either.

Last month, the Department of Education School Food Services branch sent out a letter to all public schools informing them that the price of milk and juice was going up.

As of March 1, milk purchased "a la carte," that is, purchased separately without the full lunch, went up to 50 cents a carton from 25 cents. Milk that comes with the lunch is included in the $1 price. Also, the cost of bottled Welch's juice went up from 50 cents to 75 cents.

The memo noted that the new bottle law increased the cost of bottled water and juice served in school cafeterias, but it made it sound as though the HI-5 deposit applied to the milk cartons as well.

It doesn't.

But when word got around, some parents got steamed.

Gene Kaneshiro, director of school food services, said he's working on a memo to the schools to correct the misunderstanding.

"The milk cartons are not subject to the bottle bill, and we're going to clarify that. It was just an inadvertent mistake," he said.

However, Kaneshiro points out that the price of milk did significantly go up.

A la carte milk has been sold at 25 cents a carton for at least the last decade. Kaneshiro says the price of milk per carton zoomed up over the last three years. DOE pays 31 cents each for the little milk cartons.

"We were subsidizing that a la carte milk all this time and we had to finally bite the bullet," Kaneshiro said. "We decided to go with 50 cents only because we're trying to round off all the prices. That seems to be a big concern from the parents and schools, who have to deal with the nickels and dimes."

The other thing that has gotten parents worked up is talk about a monopoly.

"Some people are starting the rumor that because there's only one milk company in Hawai'i that they're gouging us. That is absolutely not true," Kaneshiro said.

Kaneshiro said that Meadow Gold Dairies took over Foremost's contract with the schools when Foremost closed and honored the Foremost prices. The wholesale price of milk is set by law by a milk commission based on prices from the Northern California Milk Producers Association.

And we all know milk is expensive.

Meanwhile, bottled juice sold at school cafeterias IS subject to the HI-5 deposit. Each bottle now costs the state 71 cents and will be sold for 75 cents. Water costs the schools 41 cents a bottle and is sold for 50 cents. That price hasn't changed recently.

Kaneshiro has been drafting a memo to clarify all of this. "I've been hard-pressed to get out a message to clarify this without inflaming the whole issue."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.