Since 2012, schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have been required to serve low-fat or fat-free milk. Milk in schools represents a relationship between our nation’s education system, farmers, and children. Milk is an affordable source of protein, vitamins, and minerals that can connect children to the wider food system that they exist within. Milk might seem like an afterthought on a cafeteria tray to some, but the decisions that got it there are more complex and political than many realize.
Right now there is a bill proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives called the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. This bill, sponsored by Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania and with bipartisan support in Congress, would allow schools participating in NSLP to serve whole milk, along with skim and low-fat options. Schools could continue to serve flavored milk with any fat content and could also serve organic milk. The bill stipulates that no milk imported from China could be served in the NSLP. It is important to note that the amount of milk served in the NSLP coming from China is negligible.
The bill would mostly impact large scale, wholesale orders through institutional food service providers like Sodexo or Sysco. At this stage, the bill does not describe how food purchasing would change. However, the opportunity to sell whole milk, a product that requires one less step of processing, could open doors for farm to school sales. Currently, farmers and school districts that want to get milk directly from local farms to their school must work with an operation that can separate their milk into low or fat free products. If this legislation passes, there could be increased opportunities to get local milk into schools without farmers and processors needing to expand their infrastructure. The benefits of farm to school programs have been long expressed – farms benefit from an additional market, children benefit from a healthy product, and both groups benefit from their exposure to one another. When kids have some context of where their food comes from, they may make lifelong decisions in support of local agriculture, and this context can positively shape how they view farming for the rest of their lives.
This possible positive relationship comes with the reality of nutritional considerations. The current nutrition standards regarding milk in schools allow only low or non-fat options because they fit into the <16 g/day of saturated fat recommendations. While the proposed legislation does not demand that all milk in schools be whole, the reality is that those children who do choose whole milk would be using up to 10 g of that recommended saturated fat in one serving. There have been thousands of clinical studies that seek to understand the long-term relationship between fat percentage of dairy products consumed and lifelong health. While some studies suggest that a childhood spent eating 3.5% fat products may lead an individual to be more overweight, the overarching literature remains inconclusive. The fat in milk does, importantly, aid in vitamin D uptake, a nutrient many American children are deficient in. Some studies have suggested a correlation between whole milk consumption, vitamin D uptake, and lowered BMI in healthy children, but additional research is required to draw overarching conclusions.
From an industry perspective, we do know that the food a child eats in their life will impact the choices made into adulthood. Positive experiences with dairy products in childhood can create a lifelong dairy consumer, and full fat products can contribute to that positive experience.
Tens of thousands of bills are introduced in Congress in a legislative session, usually with less than a thousand becoming law. This bill remains at the beginning of the legislative process, having been introduced and assigned to a committee. Support and opposition for the bill could wax and wane with other political priorities in play across the federal government. Another version of this bill was introduced in 2023 and didn't become law. While the bill would strengthen relationships between education and farming communities, there are nutritional questions still to be answered. For now, we know that the milk being served to school children is safe, healthy and provides them with the nutrition they need.
— Bridget Craig