Congress has passed the deceptively titled Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, with bittersweet results. By adding whole-fat milk to school cafeterias, it likely increases dairy consumption along with the associated animal cruelty, killing, and health risks. At the same time, it delivers a partial victory for animal and health advocates: schools can now offer nondairy alternatives without a doctor’s note! This is an important step toward normalizing plant-based options and giving students and families more choice.

“Dairy” is the stolen breast milk of a mother animal, produced through systemic violence. Mother cows, sheep, and goats are repeatedly forcibly impregnated, their babies taken away after birth, the males are killed because they don’t produce milk, and the mothers are slaughtered at a fraction of their natural lifespan. 

Cows can live up to 25 years in the sanctuaries that rescue them. By continuing to promote cow’s milk as the standard, the law entrenches an industry built on the sexual violation and suffering of animals.

Additionally, dairy products are a substantial source of saturated fat and cholesterol, linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Some studies have associated higher dairy intake, especially whole-fat milk, with an increased risk of certain cancers. It can be especially harmful for students of Asian, African, Hispanic, and Native American descent, who face higher rates of lactose intolerance, often resulting in stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, cramping, bloating, and gas.

​​Previously, students seeking nondairy milks needed a doctor’s note to prove a medical reason, a rule stemming from decades-old USDA regulations that limited nondairy options to those with documented medical needs. The law now lets schools offer nondairy beverages that meet United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards, with parents or guardians able to request them in writing instead of a doctor’s note.

The law does not specify plant milks like soy or oat, leaving nutrition rules to the USDA Secretary and open to interpretation. However, one other positive change is that schools may choose to offer nondairy plant-based milks to all students without a parental or doctor’s note, giving schools more flexibility to expand nondairy options. 

This expanded access to nondairy milks does not compensate for the bill’s primary focus on expanding whole-fat milk in schools. Nondairy provisions were added during the legislative process, in part due to sustained pressure from animal and nutrition advocates. 

We thank everyone who signed our previous alerts, to reject dairy expansion in this bill and to serve plant-based lunches at schools, Your efforts helped make these nondairy options possible!. Yet lawmakers continue to ignore the cruelty and killing inflicted on animals in the dairy industry.

Dairy remains the default milk under the National School Lunch Program, with nondairy alternatives now more easily accessible upon a parent or guardian’s request, while perpetuating the suffering of billions of animals in children’s daily meals. Unlike most federal bills that die in committee, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act passed with strong bipartisan support, shaped by dairy industry influence and further expanding whole-fat milk in schools despite the cruelty it enshrines. Schools are still not required to provide plant-based milks to all students.

Dairy production is also a major driver of greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and land degradation. In contrast, plant milks can provide nutrients without the added fat, cholesterol, or hormones of dairy.

We must continue advocating for policies that make vegan options the norm, while challenging the deeply ingrained acceptance of animal exploitation and the consumption of another mother’s milk. Her milk was meant for her babies, not us.