Introducing the Healthy School Milk Commitment

Since coming to IDFA, I have stressed the importance of being proactive, collaborating as an industry, and strengthening dairy’s role in consumer health and wellness. Today, our industry takes a big step forward on each of these fronts, leading a proactive effort to preserve flavored milk in public schools through the IDFA Healthy School Milk Commitment.
 
The IDFA Healthy School Milk Commitment is a pledge by dairy companies to deliver milk’s 13 essential nutrients to America’s students while reducing calories and added sugars in flavored milk. Under this new Commitment, 37 school milk processors representing more than 90% of the school milk volume in the United States commit to provide healthy, nutritious school milk options with no more than 10 grams of added sugar per 8 fluid ounce serving to schools across the country by the 2025-2026 school year, fully consistent with the latest federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans and ahead of current school meal guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Commitment also gives our industry an opportunity to take credit for the progress that we’ve made on added sugars over the past 15 years. That’s because flavored milk products such as chocolate milk offered in schools today contain an average of just 8.2 grams of added sugar per serving—a reduction in added sugars of more than 50% since the 2006-2007 school year. The Healthy School Milk Commitment combines dairy’s passion for product innovation with a long-standing promise to provide healthy, nutritious dairy options to school kids everywhere.
 
IDFA will make the announcement today at Dodson Elementary School in Canton, Michigan, alongside local and state officials and leadership from Dairy Farmers of America, USDA, and partner organizations committed to producing and marketing nutritious food for our nation’s schoolchildren.
 
The Healthy School Milk Commitment goes above and beyond current federal nutrition guidelines, ensuring that children in grades K-12 continue to have access to the milk they enjoy with fewer calories and less added sugar. The Commitment is a proactive effort developed by IDFA, on behalf of milk processors who sell products to U.S. public schools, to preserve flavored milk options as part of the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs. Flavored milk options, such as chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, are the most consumed beverages within the school meals program, leading to higher program participation, less plate waste, and greater consumption of essential nutrients children need to grow and thrive in school and life.
 
To read more about the Healthy School Milk Commitment and to see a full list of the school milk processors who have signed the Commitment, visit www.healthyschoolmilk.org.
 
We are grateful to the 37 companies and many other IDFA members who have provided us with feedback and support for this Commitment. Your individual and collective leadership will ensure nutritious school milk options remain available for students for years to come.
 
Please share news of the Healthy School Milk Commitment with your organizations and networks. IDFA is making graphics, video, and printed educational materials available on the Healthy School Milk Commitment website: www.healthyschoolmilk.org. We will continue to share news of the Commitment with partners and community members including USDA, state governments and agencies with authority for school nutrition programs, national and state nutritionist and dietician professional organizations, state dairy organizations, and organizations committed to public health and access to nutrition. If you have questions about this Commitment, please reach out to Matt Herrick (mherrick@idfa.org).
 
Thank you.