President Donald Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act on Wednesday, allowing schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to serve whole and 2% fat milk for the first time since 2012. The signing reverses Obama-era restrictions that had limited cafeteria milk to skim and low-fat varieties. The change will affect meals served to roughly 30 million students enrolled in the program.
The law marks a significant rollback of school nutrition standards championed by former first lady Michelle Obama, whose Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act restricted milk fat in school lunches as part of a broader effort to reduce childhood obesity. Nutrition researchers are divided on whether the reversal will help or harm children’s health.
President Donald Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act on Wednesday at a White House ceremony attended by lawmakers, dairy farmers and their children, allowing schools in the National School Lunch Program to serve whole and 2% fat milk for the first time since 2012. The signing reverses provisions of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which former first lady Michelle Obama championed more than a decade ago and which had limited cafeteria milk to skim and low-fat varieties in an effort to reduce childhood obesity.
The law will change meals served to about 30 million students enrolled in the program.
“Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, whole milk is a great thing,” Trump said at the signing.
What the law changes
Under the new rules, schools may offer flavored and unflavored organic or conventional whole milk, 2%, 1% and lactose-free milk. The law also allows schools to serve nondairy milk alternatives that meet federal nutritional standards and requires them to provide a nondairy option when a student’s parent — not only a doctor — submits a note citing a dietary restriction.
The law exempts milk fat from the federal requirement that average saturated fats make up less than 10% of calories in school meals.
School nutrition and dairy industry officials said the changes could take effect as soon as fall 2026, though some schools may need more time to gauge student demand and adjust supply chains.
Administration reaction
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the measure as “a long-overdue correction to school nutrition policy.” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said it addressed former first lady Michelle Obama’s “short-sighted campaign to ditch whole milk.”
The signing came days after the release of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which, departing from previous editions, emphasize consumption of full-fat dairy as part of a healthy diet. Prior editions had recommended that consumers older than 2 choose low-fat or fat-free dairy.
Earlier this week, the Agriculture Department posted on social media an image of Trump with a glass of milk and the caption “Drink Whole Milk.”
Divided nutrition evidence
Nutrition researchers have reached conflicting conclusions about whole milk and children’s health.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Tufts University said there is “no meaningful benefit” in choosing low-fat over high-fat dairy. “Saturated fat in dairy has not been linked to any adverse health outcomes,” Mozaffarian said, citing differences in fatty-acid composition between dairy fat and other sources such as beef.
A 2020 review of 28 studies found that children who drank whole milk had a 40% lower risk of obesity than those who drank lower-fat milk, though the study’s authors said they could not establish that milk consumption was the cause.
Other research has found that the nutrition changes enacted under the Obama-era law slowed the rise in obesity among U.S. children, including teenagers.
The new dietary guidelines call for “full-fat dairy with no added sugars,” which would exclude chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milks currently permitted under recently updated school meal standards. Agriculture officials will need to translate that guidance into specific requirements for schools before any flavored-milk rules take effect.