House passes legislation to bring whole milk back to school cafeterias
FILE-Milk is offered during lunch for summer school to elementary students in San Francisco, Calif. (Photo By Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Whole milk may be returning to school cafeterias nationwide for the first time since 2012.
The House of Representatives passed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act on Wednesday, which allows the National School Lunch Program to serve whole milk. The Senate has to pass the bill, and it must be signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Charlotte Observer noted.
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Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) introduced the measure in 2023 and modifies milk requirements made during the Obama administration, the Hill reported.
The bill modifies federal regulations to allow whole, low-fat, and flavored milk in public schools, toppling a 2010 law that required schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to offer only fat-free or 1% fat milk.
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Former First Lady Michelle Obama, who launched a campaign to help fight childhood obesity, supported the law limiting whole milk in schools.
If the measure is approved, children will have more milk choices, including whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free flavored and unflavored milk in cafeterias.
This story was reported from Washington, D.C.