By Julie Tomascik
Editor

The U.S. House of Representatives last week overwhelmingly voted in support of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which would allow schools to once again offer whole milk and 2% milk in school lunches.

The bill, which Texas Farm Bureau supports, passed with a 330-99 vote.

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act would modify current National School Lunch Program provisions that were implemented in 2012. Those changes included restricting school milk choices to unflavored low-fat, flavored fat-free and unflavored fat-free.

The standards were modified in 2017 to allow schools to serve flavored low-fat (1%) milk.

Under the new measure, schools would be permitted to offer students whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, fat-free flavored and unflavored milk.

“Milk is an essential building block for a well-rounded and balanced diet, offering 13 essential nutrients and numerous health benefits. However, out-of-touch and outdated federal regulations have imposed restrictions on the types of milk students have access to in school meals,” said U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee who introduced the act with U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier earlier this year. “I am pleased to see my bipartisan Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act pass out of the United States House of Representatives, and I ultimately look forward to restoring access to these nutritious beverages in schools across the country.”

In a letter to Congress, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) noted that milk is an important building block for America’s children, but about 9 out of 10 children aren’t consuming enough dairy to meet their nutrition needs.

“Children and adolescents often find whole and 2% milk options more palatable than low-fat or non-fat options,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in the letter. “Numerous studies have shown modest-to-significant drops in milk consumption after flavored, whole and reduced-fat options are removed, limiting intake of essential nutrients.”

Several other agricultural groups, including AFBF and the National Milk Producers Federation, support the bill.

It now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.