June 3rd, 2025- Bill allows schools in the National School Lunch Program to resume offering whole and reduced-fat milk and expands the option for non-dairy beverages.
The Senate Agriculture Committee amended and approved the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act this week on a voice vote. The legislation will expand milk options for schools participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program.
The bill revises the program’s current requirement that participating schools must provide either fat-free or low-fat milk by modifying the restrictions so schools can now additionally offer whole and reduced-fat milk options as well.
Schools would also authorize a parent or guardian to request in writing that students with certain dietary restrictions receive a non-dairy alternative, whereas currently the written statement must come from a licensed physician.
The milk choices can be flavored, unflavored, organic, non-organic or lactose-free fluid milk or nondairy beverages that meet the nutritional standards established by the USDA secretary.
The bill – introduced by Sens. Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) – will proceed to the full Senate for consideration.
“Milk is an important part of a balanced diet that delivers critical nutrients students need for growth and development. It makes sense for National School Lunch Program operators to have the authority to offer this healthful beverage to students during the school day. I’m proud to lead the committee in advancing this bipartisan solution to expand milk options and encourage increased dairy consumption while supporting America’s hardworking dairy producers,” said Agriculture Committee Chairman Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.).
Ranking member Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) added that the bipartisan bill will “improve children’s access to milk and other healthy beverages through school lunches. This legislation is good for our kids, and it’s good for our dairy producers – a win-win.”
Nutritional importance
In April, the committee held a hearing with nutrition experts and school foodservice administrators who gave testimony on the importance for school-age children to increase their calcium intake and how the National School Lunch Program helps in advancing this goal.
While many dietary guidelines recommend replacing regular-fat dairy foods with low-fat dairy for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, results of a study were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in May that took a closer look at the findings on this topic and examined the validity of the dietary advice.
The study authors – researchers from several universities and institutes around the world – summarized discussions and presentations from an April 2024 high-level meeting of international nutrition science experts, who shared “state-of-the-art research and expert insights” on the latest knowledge regarding an association between dairy foods with various fat levels and CVD, including a review of relevant epidemiological, clinical and mechanistic studies. The experts wanted to decide if they could reach a consensus on whether the evidence supported the low-fat dietary recommendation.
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“The most recent evidence indicates that overall, consumption of milk, yogurt and cheese, irrespective of fat content, is neutrally associated with CVD risk. There is also no evidence yet from randomized controlled trials that consumption of regular-fat milk, yogurt and cheese has different effects on a broad array of cardiometabolic risk factors when compared with consumption of low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese. Thus, the body of evidence does not support differentiation between regular-fat and low-fat dairy foods in dietary guidelines for both adults and children,” the report stated.
Source: Feedstuffs