Dairy Defined:
Whole Milk is (Excruciatingly Close to Being) Back
December 8, 2025
It’s so close you can almost taste it.
Senate passage of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act means all that remains is for the House of Representatives to bring it to the floor for a vote. And the House vote should be a foregone conclusion: In 2023 the chamber passed it overwhelmingly, and if anything, political support should be even stronger this time.
Whole milk will be back in schools, and that’s another cause for holiday cheer. Nutrition science over the past decade has shown its place in a healthy child’s diet. And consumers are speaking ever-more-loudly in its favor. To put it in a graphic: Using USDA data, below are the market shares of unflavored whole, 2%, 1% and skim milk in 2012 — the year federal rules changed to keep whole milk out of federal nutrition programs…
…and in 2024, after a dozen years of “healthier” options in schools.
The science has spoken. And as shown above, consumers have spoken, increasingly turning to whole milk at home even as schools labor under restrictions. We at NMPF have spoken, and spoken, and spoken, again and again. And you can speak too, via our call-to-action that helps you write your House member as an advocate for whole milk.
It’s time. In fact, it’s long past time. But it’s about to happen, and you should be a part of it. Write your lawmaker, raise a glass — and look forward to better school nutrition in 2026.
