The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act was passed by the House with 330 members voting in favor and 99 voting against. Despite being billed as a law aimed at enhancing student choice, it lacks one crucial component: a non-dairy option, which is critical for BIPOC and other student demographics with high rates of lactose sensitivity. Just two days before, the House Rules Committee declined consideration of an amendment to close this gap.
Dietary Guidelines are in Conflict with School Milk Options
Historically, milk options in public schools have been established by the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The USDA and the Department of Human and Health Services update dietary recommendations every five years, with the next version coming in 2025. Each edition’s committee bases its recommendations on a rigorous evaluation of nutrition research.
Current recommendations propose that children aged 2 to 18 consume fat-free or low-fat milk, which are the types now accessible in schools. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, if passed, would introduce low fat and whole milk to school lunch menus.
Other features of the Act preclude the greater fat content of the milk from counting against USDA criteria that require no more than 10% of calories to come from saturated fat. “The bill adds more unhealthy fat onto school lunch trays,” said Andrew Binovi of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, calling the bill a “huge misstep by Congress.”
Because “they are similar to milk and yogurt in terms of nutrient composition,” federal dietary recommendations recommend soy milk fortified with calcium and other vitamins as a healthy option to fat-free and low-fat milk.Nonetheless, soy milk is not widely available in school cafeterias, and, unlike dairy milk, there is no government program to compensate schools for its purchase.
Caucuses Back ADD SOY Amendment Rejected by House
On Monday, the Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander caucuses submitted a bipartisan amendment that would have enabled kids to request a nondairy milk option, but the House declined to even consider the bill.
Because up to 80% of BIPOC pupils are unable to digest dairy, compared to just 5% of Northern and Central Europeans, the absence of a non-dairy milk alternative promotes racial disparities.
Prior to the amendment, Representative Troy Carter (D-LA) and a bipartisan group of 30 other members of Congress proposed H.R.1619, which required schools to provide nondairy milk alternatives. The legislation, like the amendment, would make soy milk available in cafeterias while enabling the USDA to compensate schools for it in the same way that cow’s milk is reimbursed. Despite the fact that about half of pupils are likely lactose intolerant, the measure — and its Senate cousin — has stalled.
The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act is still in its early stages. Now that the measure has been passed by the House, it will be submitted to the Senate for committee review and then a vote by the entire Senate.
Advocates for nondairy milk in schools aren’t given up yet, pointing to the work they’re doing to influence the Senate’s consideration of the measure. “If I learned anything on my way to the Olympic podium, it’s that you will lose far more times than you will win,” says Olympic medalist and Switch4Good supporter Dotsie Bausch. “This is far from over.”
