Whole milk is heading back to school cafeterias across the country after President Trump signed a bill Wednesday overturning Obama-era limits on higher-fat milk options.
Nondairy drinks such as fortified soy milk may also be on the menu in the coming months following the adoption of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which cleared Congress in the fall.
The action allows schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to serve whole and 2% fat milk, along with the skim and low-fat products required since 2012.
“Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, whole milk is a great thing,” Mr. Trump said at a White House signing ceremony that featured lawmakers, dairy farmers and their children.
The law also permits schools to serve nondairy milk that meets the nutritional standards of milk and requires schools to offer a nondairy milk alternative if kids provide a note from their parents, not just from doctors, saying they have a dietary restriction.
The signing comes days after the release of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which emphasize consumption of full-fat dairy products as part of a healthy diet. Previous editions advised that consumers older than 2 should consume low-fat or fat-free dairy.
Earlier this week, the Agriculture Department sent a social media post showing Mr. Trump with a glass of milk and a “milk mustache” that declared: “Drink Whole Milk.”
The change could take effect as soon as this fall, though school nutrition and dairy industry officials said it may take longer for some schools to gauge demand for full-fat dairy and adjust supply chains.
“The long wait is over! Whole milk is coming back to schools! This law is a win for our children, parents, and school nutrition leaders, giving schools the flexibility to offer the flavored and unflavored milk options, across all healthy fat levels, that meet students’ needs and preferences,” said Michael Dykes, president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association.
Long sought by the dairy industry, the return of whole and 2% milk to school meals reverses provisions of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by former first lady Michelle Obama. Enacted more than a dozen years ago, the law aimed to slow obesity and boost health by cutting kids’ consumption of saturated fat and calories in higher-fat milk.
Nutrition experts, lawmakers and the dairy industry have argued that whole milk is a delicious, nutritious food that has been unfairly vilified, and that some studies suggest that kids who drink it are less likely to develop obesity than those who drink lower-fat options. Critics have also said that many children don’t like the taste of lower-fat milk and don’t drink it, leading to missed nutrition and food waste.
The new rules will change meals served to about 30 million students enrolled in the National School Lunch Program.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the new law as “a long-overdue correction to school nutrition policy.” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said it fixed Michelle Obama’s “short-sighted campaign to ditch whole milk.”
Schools will be required to provide students with a range of fluid milk options, which can now include flavored and unflavored organic or conventional whole milk, 2%, 1% and lactose-free milk, as well as non-dairy options that meet nutrition standards.
The new dietary guidelines call for “full-fat dairy with no added sugars,” which would preclude chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milks allowed under a recent update of school meal standards. Agriculture officials will have to translate that recommendation into specific requirements for schools to eliminate flavored milks.
The new law exempts milk fat from being considered as part of federal requirements that average saturated fats make up less than 10% of calories in school meals.
One top nutrition expert, Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Tufts University, has said there is “no meaningful benefit” in choosing low-fat over high-fat dairy. Saturated fatty acids in dairy have a different composition than other fat, such as beef fat, plus different beneficial compounds that could offset theoretical harms, he added.
“Saturated fat in dairy has not been linked to any adverse health outcomes,” Mozaffarian said in an interview.
Research has shown that changes in the federal nutrition program after the Obama-era law was enacted slowed the rise in obesity among U.S. kids, including teenagers.
But some nutrition experts point to newer research that suggests that kids who drink whole milk could be less likely to be overweight or to develop obesity than children who drink lower-fat milk. One 2020 review of 28 studies suggests that the risk was 40% less for kids who drank whole milk, although the authors noted they couldn’t say whether milk consumption was the reason.
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