Dr. Oz holds roundtable discussion with PA farmers at North East winery and fruit farm

NORTH EAST — Mehmet Oz, the heart surgeon, TV celebrity and Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, told a group of more than two dozen Erie County farmers that he'll work to roll back "rules that don't make sense" and push for energy policies that can help not only the state's oil and gas companies but also the agricultural industry.

Wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt, Oz discussed the issues facing family farms during a campaign stop at Mobilia Fruit Farm and Arrowhead Wine Cellars in North East Township Tuesday morning.

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Oz, who noted that his father grew up on a cherry farm in Turkey before immigrating to the United States, talked about taking on the Food and Drug Administration more than a decade ago over what he suspected were troubling levels of arsenic in apple juice imported from China. Though the government pushed back on his claims, Oz told about 30 audience members Tuesday morning that the example was indicative of how he would work on their behalf in the U.S. Senate.

"I've taken on Big Tech. I've taken on big companies. I've taken on Big Pharma and I've taken on the U.S. government like I did with arsenic in apple juice," he said, "And I've got the scars to prove it."

Brian Young, owner of Young Family Farm and the vice president of the Erie County Farm Bureau, told Oz that dairy farmers have had an especially difficult time. Citing U.S. Department of Agriculture data from 2016 that showed milk consumption had declined 25% over the previous 25 years, Young said two bills could help improve consumption by making new milk drinkers.

Young said the bureau is pushing for two laws: The GIVE MILK (Giving Increased Variety to Ensure Milk Into the Lives of Kids) Act and the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which would remove prohibitions against reduced fat and whole milk from the Women, Infants, Children (WIC) program and, respectively, would allow flavored and unflavored whole milk in school lunch programs.

Young said a part of the program is that children don't like the taste of skim or 1% milk.

"Our dairy industry has actually been slaughtered over the last 20 years," Young said. "It's a depressing situation. It's happening all over the country. A lot of the 25% decline that we've seen the last 25 years with milk consumption has been with children. Whole milks are not available in schools — 1% and no-fat products are all that's available to kids. We've seen children turn away from milk because they don't like the way it tastes."

Nick Mobilia, who owns the fruit farm and winery with his wife Kathy, also spoke about school lunch programs. Mobilia is a longtime member of the board of the North East School District.

"The school lunch program is the most corrupt thing I've ever seen in this country," he told Oz.

"I can tell you're angry. I can hear it in your voice," Oz responded. "And you should be."

Oz noted that studies have found that many children don't know where many of the foods they eat come from, such as potato chips and French fries. He said the government's approach to providing only low- and no-fat milk through programs like WIC "makes no medical sense."

Oz, who said he wants to serve on the Senate's health and education committees if elected, urged the farmers to "have a loud voice" on such matters.

Oz also spoke at length about energy policies and the impact they have on farmers after Young noted that farmers get a bad rap from environmentalists because 10% of greenhouse gas emissions stem from agriculture. Young noted that farmers, though, help remove 764 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere, the equivalent of taking 165 million vehicles off the road, each year.

"We're doing everything we can to be stewards of our own cause — that's how we take a step towards profitability," he said. "But yet energy policy still is looking at agriculture as a liability."

Oz said regulations surrounding the exporting of Pennsylvania's natural gas reserves is a major problem.

"The hypocrisy is so thick you have to cut it with a chainsaw," he said.

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Last month, Oz squeaked past David McCormick by fewer than 1,000 votes in a GOP primary that was so close it triggered an automatic recount. He enters the general election contest against Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman with the hope of retaining the Senate seat for his party. Incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey announced last year that he would not seek re-election.

Contact Matthew Rink at mrink@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNrink.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Dr. Oz, GOP Senate nominee, talks with PA farmers at North East winery