The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025” on December 15 aimed at reintegrating whole milk into the country’s school nutrition programs.
The bill had already been approved by the Senate in November. With the House vote completed, the bill has now been sent to President Trump for signing.
Since the 2011-2012 school year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) had mandated that the National School Lunch Program only provide low-fat or fat-free milk (flavored or unflavored) due to long-standing concerns over the fat content in school meals.
Fat-free milk has a fat content of less than 0.5%, low-fat milk is at 1%, while whole milk has a fat content of 3.25%.
The new legislation amends the USDA’s restrictions to allow schools to offer both flavored and unflavored whole milk (both organic and non-organic varieties).
Congressman Glenn Thompson, who introduced the bill, stated on December 15: “I have spent ten years working to bring whole milk back into school cafeterias, and the previous regulations have limited students’ healthy choices, but today that has finally changed. Whole milk is an important cornerstone of a balanced, complete diet, and students should have the right to choose the milk they prefer.”
Under current regulations, if a student has disabilities, the school must provide a liquid milk alternative with written proof from a qualified physician. With the new bill, parents or legal guardians can also submit written requests in the future.
Currently, the USDA mandates that the average saturated fat content in school meals must not exceed 10% of total calories. However, the new bill explicitly states that liquid milk is not included in this calculation – meaning that when assessing compliance, the fat content of the liquid milk provided under the National School Lunch Program should not be considered as saturated fat.
“This bill allows children to have choices they truly love again, helping to ensure the healthy growth of the next generation,” said USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. “This is not just a policy change, but a practical approach to promoting national health, supporting farmers, and helping the next generation thrive. Farmers first, let America be healthy again.”
However, the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act” has also sparked controversy.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit organization with around 17,000 physician members, issued a statement on April 1 calling the bill “dangerous legislation.”
The organization stated that children are increasingly showing signs of high cholesterol, heart disease, and other cardiovascular conditions, warning that adding whole dairy products to school meals will only lead to more health issues for American children.
The committee believes that whole milk does not offer any nutrients that cannot be obtained from other food sources, such as protein from saturated fat-free soy milk or calcium from fortified orange juice, nuts, broccoli, and kale.
However, during an April 1 Senate committee hearing, Dr. Keith Ayoob, Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, countered claims that whole milk poses a threat to children’s health.
Ayoob stated that nutrition evidence has evolved since 2010 and no longer supports the policy of schools only providing fat-free or low-fat milk.
“A systematic review of heart metabolism health in children aged 2 to 18 found no association between dairy consumption (including whole and low-fat milk) and heart metabolism risks,” Ayoob said.