Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025
Official title: A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow schools that participate in the school lunch program to serve whole milk, and for other purposes.
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Became Public Law No: 119-69.
Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025
This act revises requirements for milk provided by the National School Lunch Program of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to allow schools to offer students whole and reduced-fat milk. The act also requires that local school food service personnel receive annual training and certification on food allergies.
The act permits schools to offer students whole, reduced-fat (2%), low-fat (1%), and fat-free flavored and unflavored milk. The milk that is offered may be organic or nonorganic. Currently, USDA regulations require milk to be fat-free or low-fat and allow milk to be flavored or unflavored. The act also removes the requirement that schools participating in the program must provide milk that is consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The act also expands the nondairy beverages that are included in the program by allowing schools to offer all students nondairy beverages that are nutritionally equivalent to fluid milk and that meet nutritional standards established by USDA.
Further, schools currently must provide a substitute for fluid milk, on receipt of a written statement from a licensed physician, for students whose disability restricts their diet. Under the act, a parent or legal guardian may also provide the written statement.
In addition, the act excludes fluid milk from the saturated fat content calculation for school meals. Currently, schools participating in the program must provide meals that meet certain nutrition requirements; USDA regulations require that the average saturated fat content of the meals offered must be less than 10% of the total calories. Under the act, milk fat included in any fluid milk provided by the program must not be considered saturated fat for the purposes of measuring compliance with USDA regulations.
Finally, the program's mandatory training and certification for local school food service personnel must include a module on food allergies, including information on the best practices to prevent, recognize, and respond to food-related allergic reactions. Food service personnel must receive an annual certification to demonstrate competence in the food allergies training and other training modules that are provided.
- Engrossed in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- Enrolled Bill Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML United States Legislative Markup
- Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- Public Law Formatted Text PDF United States Legislative Markup
- Reported to Senate Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- ETKA CONSULTING
- AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FED
- INTERNATIONAL DAIRY FOODS ASSOCIATION
- DAIRY FARMERS OF AMERICA, INC.
- FARMERS EDUCATIONAL COOPERATIVE UNION OF AMERICA
- CAPITOL ASSOCIATES, INC.
Bodies those filers lobbied
- SENATE
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- Agriculture, Dept of (USDA)
- U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Labor, Dept of (DOL)
- Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
- Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 222: Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-222/
"S. 222: Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-222/.
S. 222, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-222/.
[S. 222: Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-222/)