Delicious and Nutritious Whole Milk Returns to America’s School Lunchrooms
President Trump undoes another Obama-era inanity.
Delicious and nutritious whole milk is making its way back to America’s school lunchrooms.
Whole milk will soon return to school cafeterias, signaling a reversal after a decade-long absence and ushering in a major change after President Trump signed legislation on Wednesday to restore more milk options.
The law, which was approved unanimously by Congress late last year, lifts a ban on full-fat and 2 percent milk in federally funded school nutrition programs. It also gives schools more flexibility in serving nondairy milks.
“It will ensure that millions of school-age children will have access to high quality milk as we ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” Mr. Trump said, with a jug of milk sitting atop the Resolute Desk.
It’s time to DRINK WHOLE MILK, America.🥛🇺🇸
Such an honor to be in the Oval Office as @POTUS signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act into law — surrounded by the farmers who make it all possible.
This historic bill officially brings whole milk back into our schools and back… pic.twitter.com/zwSerRQOBG
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) January 15, 2026
The reverse of one of the most awful policies that was pushed by Obama and his wife: The Healthy, Hunger‑Free Kids Act of 2010 and the USDA’s 2012 school meal regulations. Those rules required any milk served in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs to be fat‑free (flavored or unflavored) or low‑fat 1% (unflavored), effectively phasing out whole and 2% milk from cafeterias.
I remember its implementation well. My son had been enjoying the lunch program at his elementary school. However, once the tasteless tripe was served, he asked me to pack him a lunch bag. I was delighted to do so, and one of the components of those bags was whole milk.
This policy update is so good, even some Democrats are for it.
Honor for Pennsylvania Farm Show: @POTUS just signed our Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act into law.
Fully back PA dairy farmers + students in PA.
WHOLE MILK IS BACK.🥛 pic.twitter.com/EJ8FMwyDzT
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) January 14, 2026
This move also aligns with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s revised food pyramid, which emphasizes protein and unprocessed foods that retain their full range of flavors, vitamins, minerals, and fats.
However, there may be some challenges in implementing the program in some areas.
Whole milk and 2% milk will not appear in schools overnight. There are several steps before it is offered in cafeterias, according to the School Nutrition Association, which represents more than 50,000 school nutrition professionals.
Schools will need to evaluate how much interest there is among students for these options and then discuss availability and price with their suppliers.
Whole milk is more expensive than skim milk, which may prove to be a barrier for some cash-strapped school districts, said Liz Campbell, a registered dietician nutritionist and the association’s vice president for government affairs. Also, the supply of milk options varies widely by region.
And it appears to be even more plans for expanding milk options in the future:
Way to go!! We’ve always been WHOLE MILK parents. ⁰⁰Next up: raw milk⁰⁰Great job @SecRollins! https://t.co/QtPLGZuGWD
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) January 14, 2026
Whole milk has a place in a healthy diet. The higher fat content of whole milk increases satiety, and many people feel fuller longer after drinking it than after drinking skim milk. And the fat content allows for the absorption of more fat-soluble vitamins. The International Dair Foods Association (IDFA) offers this assessment:
Dairy foods—milk, cheese, yogurt, and other products—are a cornerstone of healthy dietary patterns, delivering 13 essential nutrients, with the DGA highlighting dairy’s high-quality protein, healthy fat, vitamins and minerals. IDFA has for many years highlighted that scientific evidence does not support previous DGA recommendations to limit dairy food consumption to low-fat or fat-free products.
Nutrition science has evolved to show the benefits of whole and full-fat dairy foods, including less weight gain, neutral or lower risk of heart disease, and lower risk of childhood obesity. The new DGA reflect this growing body of research, providing Americans greater flexibility to choose dairy foods that meet their needs.
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Comments
I love whole milk!
I’m a Wisconsin diary girl
2% for me. Never really liked whole milk.
I went to whole milk (and real butter) several years ago. I remember my mother mixing 2% with that nonfat powder. The government was exaggerating risks. It also turns out that margarine often has more transfats than butter.
I wish there was a way to minimize the wasting of food in our school lunch programs. We’ve gotten away from cooking lunches and now heat processed foods for them. No wonder there is so much food thrown away.
The lunch ladies at my grade school in the ’60s and ’70s were wonderful, and produced home cooked lunches, not slop out of a bag or can. I can’t imagine what kind of restrictions they’d face these days.
I worked in the cafeteria washing dishes in Jr high and got free lunch
What a trip
Anyway all the food was homemade by these old polish, Herman, Italian woman
They would give me loads of bread to take home and deserts
When I was in 1st grade in San Antonio, Tx, school lunch milk came in little glass bottles. I believe that was the last year before they switched to cartons.
The best ways are to:
1) Stop subsidizing it. If the schools have to pay for the waste, and can’t simply ask for more money to cover it, it will minimize.
2) Have kids bring their lunch. That’s the best way. After all, we’re already paying the parents to buy that food with SNAP.
Remember that the reason those programs exist (the free and subsidized ones) is based on lies about kids not being able to study because Mommy can’t afford to feed them. The numbers they use to weaponized your empathy are bogus – Minnesota shows it.
“Schools will need to evaluate how much interest there is among students for these options and then discuss availability and price with their suppliers.”
No one asked the students if they wanted skim milk, it was imposed upon them.
Skim milk is horrible. It has all the flavor of distilled water.
It’s chalk in water.
2% isn’t bad, but 1% is water disguising itself as milk.
Having the federal government restrict what types of milk can be served in schools seems insanely unconstitutional to me.
If having government-run schools isn’t unconstitutional, then I don’t see why having government restrictions on the milk being served in them would be.
I call bullhockey on skim milk being cheaper, BTW. If it is, it’s because the demand for it is so much higher – because of gov’t mandates.
That was my feeling too.
From Perplexity:
“Skim milk is usually cheaper because the valuable milk fat has been removed and can be sold separately in higher-margin products like butter, cream, cheese, and ice cream. Whole milk keeps more of that fat in the jug, so the dairy is effectively “using up” an ingredient it could otherwise turn into more profitable items, and the price reflects that.”
And annoyingly:
“Modern plants typically separate cream from all incoming milk, then blend fat back in to hit targets for whole, 2%, 1%, and skim, so whole milk actually “uses” more of the limited cream stream.”
the limited cream stream.”
Ummmm… phrasing?
Large Poorly Phrased Language Model.
It is.
They’re the same price.
I guess they go to different stores than I do. I see a difference in price between brands and a difference between the all natural milk and processed milk, but I have not seen a difference between skim, 1%, 2% and whole milk within the same brand.
The vile, stupid, evil, malignantly narcissistic, mendacious, self-enriching, victimhood-posturing, obnoxious and entitled Obamas — two cancers upon the U.S., and, the world.
In Grade school we had a daily break with a small carton of milk and graham crackers
We really looked forward to it
When I got in 6 th grade we were so cool we brought nestles coco powder or some awful, strawberry mix.
In JR high, that all ended
Also…
Now do “low-fat buttermilk”. What’s the point of that?
None of the cholesterol, all of the godawful taste.
“Mts. Eastman. Your son is being suspended for possession of contraband at school. This will go on his Pernsnent Record! If this happens again I will have no choice but to report you to Child Protective Services!”
-signed- Principal Prunella Catlady
I actually had a nutritionist ask me why I was still consuming full-fat dairy. I told her that I would rather have 1/2 cup of whole milk than a 1/2 pint of fat-free milk.
Because it’s both nutritious AND tasty?
Went to Parochial (ie : Catholic) schools instead of Public schools, rthe school lunches were usually pretty decent (60’s-70’s). One notable exception once in HS was one lunch lady’s recipe for Pecan Sandies cookies. They were cheaper or perhaps more healthy than the other desert options I guess because they started doing them every day for a bit. They literally tasted like sand to me – and a bunch of other kids IG too because they mostly never got eaten (your selection was lunch A or lunch B with no subs).
So one day fed up (not) I went around the cafeteria with my tray asking “are you going to eat those cookies?” – and filling my empty tray with a mountain of Pecan Sandies. To turn in to the lunch ladies to be re-issued. After that stunt they went back to pudding or chocolate chip cookies.
You can lead a kid to healthy meals – but unless it’s appetizing you can’t make him eat it instead of throwing it mostly away and buying a snack on the way home.
As an adult worked at a Dominos which had the school lunch contract for once-a-week pizza at the local elementary to high schools. I know folks like to joke about Dominos (or other chain) pizza being terrible but the kids loved it, they’d be going back for seconds and thirds. Then…. during the Obama admin the 1st lady chose “healthy school lunches” as her 1st lady pet project. Committees of experts were formed, guidelines and mandates were issued,
Instead of regular commercially sold crusts only whole wheat crusts were allowed.
Instead of regular sauce (which was already lower sugar than the completion) only special low-low-sugar sauce was allowed. (NB almost every pizza sauce recipe has SOME sugar because otherwise it’s a bit tart.)
Instead of regular mozzarella cheese (which is already a low-fat cheese) only a low-low-fat cheese was allowed.
Instead of regular pepperoni only a special low-fat pepperoni was allowed.
So…. in other words the “healthy” pizza had no relation to our regular product – which people would actually buy – and eat.
And which the kids would eat.
1st year under the new regime rules the schools all ended up ordering 1/2 what they used to order – because the kids (rightfully) hated the taste.
2nd year they didn’t bother putting out a new contract for “food” the kids would just throw way.
Trump will now be blamed for fat kids.
Whole milk is one of the healthiest things in a school.
I prefer skim.
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