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Summary Provided by Congressional Research Service
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.
Latest available text
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the "Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025".
2. Organic or non-organic whole milk permissible
(a) In general - Section 9(a)(2) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)—
(A) by striking clauses (i) and (ii) and inserting the following:
(i) shall offer students a variety of fluid milk;
(ii) may offer students options which may include flavored and unflavored organic or nonorganic whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free fluid milk and lactose-free fluid milk, and nondairy beverages that are nutritionally equivalent to fluid milk and meet the nutritional standards established by the Secretary (which shall, among other requirements to be determined by the Secretary, include fortification of calcium, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin D to levels found in cow’s milk); and
(B) in clause (iii), by striking "physician" and inserting "physician, parent, or legal guardian";
(2) in subparagraph (C), in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking "fluid milk products" and inserting "products described in subparagraph (A)(ii)"; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
(D) Saturated fat - Milk fat included in any fluid milk provided under subparagraph (A) shall not be considered saturated fat for purposes of measuring compliance with the allowable average saturated fat content of a meal under section 210.10 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations).
(E) Application - Subparagraph (B)(ii) is not applicable to a school that offers nondairy beverages under subparagraph (A)(ii).
(b) Conforming amendments -
(1) Section 14(f) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1762a(f)) is amended in the third sentence by inserting "or a nondairy beverage that meets the nutritional standards described in section 9(a)(2)(B)" after "milk".
(2) Section 20(c) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769b(c)) is amended by striking "patterns and fluid milk requirements" and inserting "patterns, fluid milk requirements, and nutritional standards for nondairy beverages".
3. Including food allergy information in existing training modules for local food service personnel
(a) Food allergy training module - Section 7(g)(2)(B)(iii) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1776(g)(2)(B)(iii)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating subclauses (II) and (III) as subclauses (III) and (IV), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subclause (I) the following:
(II) food allergies, including information on the best practices to prevent, recognize, and respond to food-related allergic reactions;
(b) Certification - Section 7(g)(2)(B)(ii)(II) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1776(g)(2)(B)(ii)(II)) is amended by striking "clause (i)" and inserting "clauses (i) and (iii)".
Passed the Senate November 20, 2025.Secretary