Fourth-graders inspire N.Y. State Senate to make yogurt the official state snack

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last updated 8 January 2015

The New York state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to declare yogurt as the official state snack, in honor of New York's status as the number one processor of yogurt in the country. And it turns out the origin for the bill came from an interesting source: A class of fourth-graders that wrote to state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer (R), who then became the bill's lead sponsor.

From a press release issued by Ranzenhofer's office:

"The idea for this legislation started in a Genesee County classroom, not at the State Capitol. A lot of credit goes to Craig Schroth and his fourth-grade class at Byron-Bergen Central School District for all of their hard work, research, and study that went into proposing this bill," said Ranzenhofer. "Today's vote to designate yogurt as the State snack is an example of democracy in action."

The bill passed the Senate 52-8, and now heads to the state Assembly. It could still face some of the same questions there that it faced in the Senate — like whether such a declaration might be inconsiderate to the lactose intolerant — but that remains to be seen.