Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: Congress actually passes a bill: whole milk for schools

By Marion Nestle

December 24 2025

Congress actually passes a bill: whole milk for schools

Alert to readers: Amazon.com displays listings for several more workbooks, study guides, and cookbooks purportedly based on my book, What to Eat Now (see previous post on this). I did not write any of them. Caveat emptor!

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I can hardly get my head around this.

Here is USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins doing a version of the dairy industry’s milk mustache campaign celebrating the reintroduction of whole milk into schools.

Our otherwise dysfunctional Congress has managed to pass a bipartisan bill, “The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025.”

The bill overturns previous restrictions on whole-fat milk and dairy alternative milks in schools. Now:

I. Schools may offer students dairy milks—or nutritionally equivalent non-dairy beverages

flavored (e.g., chocolate) and unflavored

organic or nonorganic

reduced fat, low-fat, and fat-free

lactose-free

II. Milk fat will not count as saturated fat in rules about saturated fat limits

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is happy about the the non-dairy alternatives.

But this has to be counted as a clear win for the dairy industry, desperate to get whole and flavored milks back into schools.

The rationale?

How will doing this make kids healthier?

Here is my milk summary table from What to Eat Now.

And this is before the chocolate and sugar get tossed in.

How much difference will it make to kids’ overall calorie and saturated fat intake? My guess: probably not much.

Here are my immediate questions:

How many different kinds of milk, dairy and not, can schools logistically manage to store and serve?
Will kids drink more milk now?
Will they choose whole over skim?
Will they choose chocolate whole milk over chocolate skim?
Will they choose plant-based alternatives?

Note: all of these are about the selling of milk, not health.

That’s because this is not a health initiative; it is a dairy promotion initiative.

The post Congress actually passes a bill: whole milk for schools appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

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It's both a field guide to food shopping in America and a reflection on how to eat well—and deliciously.

For more information and to order, click here.

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