WASHINGTON – If only Shaun White had gotten his Greek yogurt.
Sen. Schumer conceded defeat Thursday in the fight to break a Russian blockade of Chobani yogurt headed to the US Olympic Team.
Food banks in New York and New Jersey will now be getting more than 5,000 single-serve cups of Greek yogurt stranded in a refrigerated unit at Newark Liberty Airport since Feb. 4.
“Chobani and I fought hard to deliver their yogurt to our Olympic athletes in Sochi,” said Schumer (D-NY), an aggressive supporter of Chobani and other New York-based Greek yogurt producers.
“While we did not prevail, there is a silver – or gold – lining in the news that the yogurt will be donated to hungry men, women and children in New York and New Jersey,” he declared.
Chobani, an official sponsor of the US Olympic Team, decided to donate the yogurt to the Food Bank For New York City and Saint John’s Soup Kitchen in New Jersey.
Russia halted the yogurt citing customs-certificate requirement, despite the US Food and Drug Administration vouching for the yogurt’s safety and the fact that the yogurt would have been eaten only by US athletes in Sochi.
Schumer accused Russia of being “unreasonable.”
He reached out repeatedly to Russian officials and enlisted support from the USDA and US Department of Agriculture, imploring Moscow to give safe passage to the “nutritious and delicious” protein-packed yogurt.
The Russian government did not budge.