Whole and 2% milk will return to public school lunchrooms soon

Like most school children, dairy cows love to eat.
(Adobe Stock photo)

After more than a decade of advocacy, whole and 2% milk will be served in public school cafeterias. "Congress has approved the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, marking a major shift in federal school nutrition policy," reports Taylor Leach of Dairy Herd Management. "The bill now awaits the president’s signature, with implementation expected as early as the next school year."

The new legislation reverses rules from the 2012 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which aimed to reduce childhood obesity and lower kids' saturated fat intake by restricting school milk options to fat-free and 1%. The bill aimed for students to get the nutrition milk provides without the fat. 

And while the 2012 change was meant to improve children's health, it kept running into a major obstacle. "At home, many kids drink 2% or whole milk. And when the milk at school tastes different, the kids don’t drink it," reports Hannah Barthels of Farm Journal. "And they miss out on the nutrients dairy provides."

Multiple studies on whole milk's impact on childhood obesity have consistently shown that "milk fat has a neutral or even positive effect on health outcomes," Leach explains. "That evolving science, combined with changing consumer preferences, helped build bipartisan support for restoring flexibility in school milk offerings."

The addition of whole and 2% milk offerings in schools is also a big win for American dairy farmers. "School meal programs account for nearly 8% of all fluid milk sales," Leach reports. "The bill’s passage represents the culmination of more than a decade of effort by dairy advocates, lawmakers and industry stakeholders."