Trump signs law restoring whole and two-percent milk to schools

President Trump signed legislation on Wednesday that will allow whole milk to return to school cafeterias, reversing a decade-long absence and expanding milk options in federally funded school nutrition programs. The law, approved unanimously by Congress late last year, lifts a ban on full-fat and 2 percent milk and gives schools more flexibility in serving nondairy milks.

It allows both flavored and unflavored full-fat and 2 percent milk, lets parents request a substitute for milk without a doctor’s note and exempts milk fats from a requirement that limits saturated fats to 10 percent of calories offered in school meals. The measure reverses an Obama-era policy in place since 2011 that the article says was based on the belief that whole milk caused obesity in children.

The change follows years of intense lobbying by the dairy industry, shifting scientific research on the nutritional value of whole milk and the Make America Healthy Again movement; milk consumption rose in 2024 after years of decline, federal dietary guidelines released this month encouraged more cheese and whole milk, and Robert F.

Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, vowed last summer to end "the attack on whole milk, cheese and yogurt." Mr.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Whole Milk, Dairy Industry, National School Lunch, Federal Dietary Guidelines