First they went after the candy machines.
Then they took aim at the sugary sodas. And most of the bake sales. And the greasy french fries at lunchtime.
And now the latest target of the city schools’ push to fight childhood obesity is something as simple as butter.
The spreadable delight has been banned from school cafeterias. It can’t be used for cooking or offered with bread.
And now it’s the subject of an aggressive crackdown that threatens the livelihood of school kitchen managers who’ve dared to order the illicit treat.
“Please explain why your managers are ordering BUTTER!!!” a Brooklyn regional school food manager fumed in an email last week to officials overseeing 25 schools.
The email had an attachment called “Excess Butter Ordering Report” that identified school kitchen managers who’d ordered between $74 and $148 worth of butter.
“Every Manager on this list has to get a disciplinary letter by close of business next week Friday (5/10/13). I also want a copy of every letter sent to my office.”
One kitchen manager caught butter-handed then received a note warning that “if there is a repetition of this incident or similar incident, further disciplinary action will be taken against you which might lead to the termination of your employment with the Office of School Food.”
Education Department officials say butter was quietly exiled from school cafeterias as early as 2008, but kitchen managers say this month’s crackdown is the first they’ve heard of the butter ban.
“We understand the need for healthy meals, but we do not appreciate the administration bullying our members without giving them instructions on how to prepare meals,” said Greg Floyd, president of Local 237 Teamsters, which represents the kitchen managers. “Our members are already working under stress and they don’t need unnecessary harassment.”
Department officials say butter is one of several ingredients they’ve stripped out of meals in recent years to make them healthier. Also off the menu: whole milk and white bread.
But a schools spokeswoman denied that there’s actually a “ban” in effect.
“We’re not banning butter,” spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said. “We just haven’t used it in our recipes since 2008.”
Schools are instructed to use healthy, low-fat salad oil instead of butter and to serve peanut butter, jelly and cream cheese with bread.
Kitchen managers are trained to purchase only ingredients called for on school menus.
Feinberg said officials aren’t aware of any other schools ordering butter since 2008 and say they’re investigating the Brooklyn butter glut.
One Brooklyn kitchen manager said the school typically orders a case of butter every three or four months, adding a little to the hot cereal kids are served for breakfast.
“We have always ordered butter. Nowhere does it say we can’t order butter,” said the manager, noting that butter is among ingredients listed on school food ordering forms.
“It’s not like I’m giving the kids butter to drink. It’s not like I’m using the butter in excess.”
Greenpoint mom Brooke Parker was baffled by the anti-butter crusade. “I don’t understand why the mayor is attacking butter. What’s he got against butter? It’s not that bad for you,” she said. “How about making sure kids have gym classes before they ban butter?”
Parker’s daughter Vivian, 6, a kindergartner at Public School 84 in Williamsburg, didn’t mind.
“They don’t have butter at my school,” she said. “They said it makes you fat. I don’t like butter anyway. They have cream cheese for our bagels instead. I love cream cheese.”
