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The feds also helped bring you the Taco Bell Cantina Double Steak Quesadilla and several other fast-food gems.  

The USDA’s MyPlate program recommends going easy on fast food: “People who eat out more often, particularly at fast food restaurants, are more likely to be overweight or obese,” it says.

Sounds sensible enough. But there’s one little problem: The USDA also oversees the dairy checkoff, a group that works hand in hand with fast-food chains. That’s one of the main findings in a new report by Michele Simon, a public health lawyer who writes about food politics. The bulk of the dairy checkoff’s work with fast-food chains happens through a marketing group called Dairy Management Inc., which regularly helps companies create and promote menu items that contain dairy-many of which are a far cry from USDA’s recommendations for a healthy diet. A few examples:   

Graphic by Julia Lurie

Here are a few more details on those partnerships:

• Since 2009, the dairy checkoff has promoted (PDF) what it calls “cheese demand-enhancement” through a partnership with Domino’s Pizza. By creating a pizza with 40 percent more cheese, it has generated $177 million through sales of more than a billion additional pounds of milk. In 2013, the dairy checkoff helped Domino’s introduce a USDA-approved school lunch pizza called Smart Slice in 450 districts across 39 states. 

• In 2013, the Dairy Checkoff partnered with Taco Bell to launch Cantina Double Steak Quesadillas and new cheese shreds, increasing its total dairy sales by 4 percent.  In 2013, the dairy checkoff helped Pizza Hut create the 3 Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza, the chain’s first new permanent menu item in almost 20 years. 

• A dairy checkoff partnership helped Starbucks launch its smoothies, which use more than 3.7 million pounds of whey protein each year. (PDF) 

• The USDA’s National Dairy Promotion and Research Program helped McDonald’s launch McCafé beverages and the Angus Cheeseburger (now discontinued). (PDF)

The dairy checkoff also provides six dairy specialists-who offer “technical assistance, support, and dairy expertise”-to McDonald’s, and it employs an on-site dairy scientist at Taco Bell.