NESTLE QUICK ON PLANS TO QUENCH MILK DRINKS COULD REPLACE BANNED SODA AT LAUSD.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

GLENDALE - Nestle hopes to take advantage of an impending ban on soda sales on Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, aiming to put flavored milk in students' hands instead.

``We're starting today and going fast and furious,'' Andy Hill, brand manager for Nesquik Ready-To-Drink, said Thursday. ``In the next two, three, four years, we're moving forward and looking nationwide.''

LAUSD campuses have until January 2004 to shed soda from their sales menus, following an August 2002 resolution authored by board member Marlene Canter. Aimed at reducing obesity among students, the ban boots soda, but allows fruit drinks, water, sports drinks and milk. Though the Nesquik concoctions do contain added sugar, they fit within the district's guidelines for acceptable beverages.

Schools nationwide are considering similar bans on soda.

``I was really hoping this motion would stimulate companies, particularly larger ones that have a hold on the district, to look at some healthy packaging,'' said Canter, who represents the 4th District, including Encino. ``I'm thrilled Nestle has stepped up to the plate. I hope they'll contact the district to make sure that it meets all our guidelines. I believe they'd find a welcome reception here.''

The cooled vending machines dispense six different pint bottles, with flavors including three varieties of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and banana. Though the drinks retail for $1.99 in off-campus locations, Hill said the price would likely be in the $1.25 to $1.50 price range, slightly more expensive than the average fare found at schools. According to Michael Eugene, the LAUSD's business manager, schools that have already have banned soda sell water, Snapple and sports drinks in the $1 range.

Selling milk through machines is a relatively new concept, according to Nancy Fletcher, vice president of communications for the California Milk Advisory Board.

``The national dairy board has tried testing vending machines with milk, and they've done very well,'' she said. ``It's different with milk vending machines, because with soda you can just leave it until it sells. Milk has to be rotated out, since there's a shelf life.''

Nesquik can sit in its chilly machines for 90 days after it's produced, Hill said, though it's usually sold long before expiration.

Though the Nesquik offerings all include sizable doses of high fructose corn syrup, one of soda's main ingredients, Bettye Nowlin, a Calabasas- based spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, said the drinks at least boast other nutritional benefits. Primarily, she likes them for their high calcium.

``The better choice is regular milk, over the other choices, but you still get nutrients,'' Nowlin said. ``You have nutrients in chocolate milk that you don't have in soda - that's just calories and that's it. It's a better choice than soda, because you have the calcium, the protein and the B vitamins.''

If Nestle can secure an LAUSD deal, it hopes to win over other large districts to the program.

``We're going after everybody,'' Hill said. ``We're trying to get distribution in every district around the country.''

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Nestle's cooled vending machines spit out six different pint bottles, with flavors including three varieties of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and banana.