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Senate Ag Committee Approves Bipartisan Bill to Expand Healthy Milk Options in Schools
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today voted to approve bipartisan legislation she cosponsored to allow schools to again serve whole and reduced-fat milk as part of the National School Lunch Program.
Hyde-Smith serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which voted to advance the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (S.222) to the full Senate for consideration. Introduced by U.S. Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.), the bill aims to improve student nutrition by expanding healthy milk options in schools.
“For generations, children have benefited from the nutrients found in milk, which are essential for healthy growth and development. I am hopeful that we will succeed in enacting the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, restoring access to healthy milk choices for kids,” said Hyde-Smith, who also cosponsored the bill in the 118th Congress.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans reports that nearly 90 percent of Americans do not meet their daily dairy intake recommendations. Additionally, leading nutritionists have found that whole dairy fats have no negative effect on a diet, and may even reduce the risk of heart disease. However, current USDA regulations limit school milk options to fat-free or low-fat, whether flavored or unflavored.
S.222 would require schools to again include “whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free” milk as options in the National School Lunch Program, and to exempt milk from USDA saturated fat limits established in the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. The Senate measure was also amended to restore the option for schools to serve non-dairy beverages that are equivalent to fluid milk nutritionally.
The National Milk Producers Federation, International Dairy Foods Association, and American Farm Bureau Federation have endorsed the legislation. A bipartisan House companion bill (HR.649) was introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.).
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