The U.S. Department of Agriculture has picked Chobani Greek yogurt as the primary supplier for the federal school lunch program.
Chobani officials announced on Monday that their products would become meat substitutes for K-12 students beginning this fall.
The USDA decision became permanent after the agency classified the yogurt products as meat substitutes in 2013.
"Allowing children to have healthy and delicious options for their lunch tray ingredients is one of the most important things Chobani can do as a company," said Robert Post, Chobani's senior director of nutrition and regulatory affairs, adding that the company has decided to offer the products at a discounted price.
A Chobani yogurt pilot program was conducted earlier this year in schools in New York, Arizona, Idaho and Tennessee, wherein 200,000 pounds of the yogurt were consumed.
Since the pilot program found an increasing demand from students and was deemed successful, the USDA made the decision to incorporate the products into school lunches.
"Chobani is a nutrient-intense food, and getting children the best nutrition early in life is very important to us," Post said in a statement, according to a report from KBTX.com.
Post aadded that the company's Greek yogurt was an excellent protein source made only from "natural, non-GMO ingredients," with "40 percent less sugar" compared with other commercial fruit yogurt, and contained no "milk protein concentrates" or "animal-based thickeners."
Chobani will now be available in various schools in the U.S. This fall, ten states will also be adopting the yogurt into their school lunch program, as reported in iSchoolguide. Company officials also said the list of states was expected to grow before school season opens.
Turkish immigrant Hamdi Ulukaya founded Chobani, a New York-based company that is today the leading Greek yogurt producer in the U.S.
