Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act – a win for nutrition and dairy
The bill will enhance school meal nutrition by providing children with a wider variety of milk options, including whole and 2% milk, favorites among children at home.
“Milk is an essential part of a balanced diet, especially for our growing children,” Edge President Brody Stapel said. “Milk’s nutritional benefits for school-age children have been proven time and again, and offering expanded options encourages consumption of nutrient-dense milk.
“Thank you to Reps. GT Thompson and Kim Schrier for their unwavering support and leadership to ensure that fuller-fat dairy products are recognized as healthy options, especially for school nutrition programs. We urge the Senate to take up their companion bill ASAP.”
Background:
In 2012, USDA updated school meal requirements to reflect the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans at that time. The update included restricting school milk choices to unflavored low-fat, flavored fat-free and unflavored fat-free. Milk consumption in schools dropped significantly.
In 2017, USDA allowed hardship-based exemptions to school nutrition standards so they could serve flavored low-fat (1%) milk. USDA implemented those standards, which were in place when the pandemic hit and continued allowing flexibility in the program to ensure schools could offer nutritious meals amid pandemic-related supply chain issues. However, the ability to serve low-fat, flavored milk in future school years remains uncertain. Schools and U.S. dairy need certainty about the rules moving forward to encourage children to drink more nutrient-dense milk.
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