Toomey bill would allow whole milk back in schools

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey wants to bring fattier milk back to school lunch lines.

The Republican senator from Pennsylvania has introduced the the Milk in Lunches for Kids (MILK) Act to allow schools to serve whole milk and 2% milk. Those types of milk have been prohibited in school cafeterias since 2010, when Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

That law directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rewrite the nutrition standards for school lunch menus, directing schools to serve more whole grains, less sodium, and lower-fat milk. The Trump administration has scaled back some of those changes, including once again allowing low-fat chocolate milk to be served.

“Every parent knows milk does a body good,” Toomey said in a statement, borrowing the dairy industry’s 1980s advertising slogan.

The 2010 law “led to a sharp decline in consumption across the country, which means kids are not getting essential nutrients milk provides,” Toomey added. “This measure fixes that error and permits schools to sell whole and 2% milk once again.”

His bill also would require the secretary of agriculture to revise regulations to exclude milk fat from the cap on saturated fat in school lunches.

Pennsylvania ranks sixth nationally in milk production and second in the number of dairy farms, according to the Center for Dairy Excellence, a Harrisburg nonprofit supporting the industry.

Those dairy farmers are facing a trend of declining milk consumption nationally and in school cafeterias. However, data from the American Farm Bureau Federation shows sales of whole milk have increased in recent years.

Toomey’s office said his measure has support from the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and several state dairy trade groups, including the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers.

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives also have pushed to put whole milk back on lunch trays. Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson and four other GOP legislators from the state, including Rep. Dan Meuser, whose district includes Schuylkill, Carbon and part of Berks counties, introduced a bill in January to allow for whole flavored and unflavored milk to be offered in school cafeterias.

Washington correspondent Laura Olson can be reached at 202-780-9540 or lolson @mcall.com.