Official Summaries

Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025

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 participating school from offering students any of these milk choices.

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 bill, a parent or legal guardian may also provide the written statement.

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.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 649 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 111
119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 649

                          [Report No. 119-142]

  To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow 
schools that participate in the school lunch program under such Act to 
                           serve whole milk.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2025

 Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania (for himself, Ms. Schrier, Mr. Finstad, 
 Ms. Craig, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. Meuser, Mr. 
  Estes, Mr. Fleischmann, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. 
 Austin Scott of Georgia, Mr. Van Orden, Mr. Langworthy, Ms. Pingree, 
     Ms. De La Cruz, Mr. Bost, Mr. Mann, Ms. Tenney, Mr. Joyce of 
   Pennsylvania, Mr. Fulcher, Mr. Jackson of Texas, Mr. Graves, Mr. 
Moolenaar, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Alford, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Owens, Mr. Costa, 
   Mr. Panetta, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Perry, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. 
    Mackenzie, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Bresnahan, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Harder of 
California, Mr. Steil, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, 
  Mr. Barr, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Vasquez, Mrs. Fischbach, Mr. 
 Smucker, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Golden of Maine, Mr. Rose, Mr. 
Messmer, Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Lawler, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, 
  Mr. Balderson, Mr. Rouzer, Mr. Kelly of Mississippi, Mr. Wied, Mr. 
Newhouse, Mrs. Hinson, Mr. Moore of Alabama, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Valadao, 
 Mr. Sorensen, Mr. Harris of North Carolina, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Jackson of 
  Illinois, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. Guest) introduced the following 
  bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce

                              June 5, 2025

 Additional sponsors: Ms. Maloy, Mr. Gray, Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mr. Riley 
 of New York, Mr. Collins, Mr. Mannion, Ms. McDonald Rivet, Mr. Allen, 
 Ms. Letlow, Mr. Grothman, Mr. Gottheimer, Mr. Rulli, Ms. DelBene, Mr. 
Baird, Mr. Bentz, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Lucas, 
Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Womack, Mr. Suozzi, Mrs. Houchin, Ms. 
 Balint, Mr. Moore of North Carolina, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr. 
Baumgartner, Mr. Comer, Mr. Carter of Texas, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Foxx, Mr. 
  LaMalfa, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Onder, Mr. 
Moylan, Mr. Yakym, Mr. Carbajal, Mrs. McClain Delaney, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. 
  Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Downing, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. 
 Stefanik, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Ms. Scholten, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Mr. 
                       Tiffany, and Mr. Feenstra

                              June 5, 2025

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 
                               23, 2025]


_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow 
schools that participate in the school lunch program under such Act to 
                           serve whole milk.


 


    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. ORGANIC OR NON-ORGANIC WHOLE MILK PERMISSIBLE.

    Section 9(a)(2) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1758(a)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as follows:
                    ``(A) In general.--Lunches served by schools 
                participating in the school lunch program under this 
                Act--
                            ``(i) shall offer students a variety of 
                        fluid milk;
                            ``(ii) may offer students flavored and 
                        unflavored organic or non-organic whole, 
                        reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free fluid milk 
                        and lactose-free fluid milk; and
                            ``(iii) shall provide a substitute for 
                        fluid milk for students whose disability 
                        restricts their diet, on receipt of a written 
                        statement from a licensed physician, parent, or 
                        legal guardian that identifies the disability 
                        that restricts the student's diet and that 
                        specifies the substitute for fluid milk.''; and
            (2) 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) Prohibition on certain purchases.--The 
                Secretary shall prohibit schools participating in the 
                school lunch program under this Act from purchasing or 
                offering milk produced by a China state-owned 
                enterprise.
                    ``(F) Limitation on authority.--The Secretary may 
                not prohibit any school participating in the school 
                lunch program under this Act from offering students the 
                milk described in subparagraph (A)(ii).''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 111

119th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                               H. R. 649

                          [Report No. 119-142]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to allow 
schools that participate in the school lunch program under such Act to 
                           serve whole milk.

_______________________________________________________________________

                              June 5, 2025

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed