Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023
Sponsored by Glenn Thompson
Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 293.
Dec 18, 2023
This bill modifies the National School Lunch Program's milk requirements. It permits schools to offer students whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free milk in flavored and unflavored varieties (organic or nonorganic), replacing the current requirement to provide only fat-free or low-fat milk. It excludes fluid milk from saturated fat content calculations when schools measure meal compliance with federal nutrition standards. The bill also prohibits schools in the program from purchasing or offering milk produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises.
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Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023 This bill revises requirements for milk provided by the National School Lunch Program of the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Currently, schools participating in the program must provide milk that is consistent with the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans; USDA regulations require milk to be fat-free or low-fat and allow milk to be flavored or unflavored. The bill modifies these restrictions and instead permits schools to offer students whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free flavored and unflavored milk. The milk that is offered may be organic or nonorganic. Further, USDA may not prohibit a school participating in the program from offering students any of these milk choices. In addition, schools currently 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 bill, fluid milk is excluded from the saturated fat content calculation; 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 bill prohibits schools participating in the program from purchasing or offering milk produced by Chinese state-owned enterprises.