After USDA announced in February a potential ban on flavored milks in kindergarten through eighth grade to reduce added sugars in school lunches, dairy groups rallied Congress to keep low-fat flavored and whole milks in the National School Lunch Program. On June 6, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which would allow low-fat flavored and whole milks continue to be served in schools. The bipartisan bill, introduced in February, still has to pass the full House, and an equivalent bill in the Senate is now being reviewed by the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.
In response to USDA’s announcement, 37 processors of school milk, who are responsible for 90% of the milk served in schools, also signed onto the Healthy School Milk Commitment, pledging to reduce sugar in flavored milks to no more than 10 grams per 8-ounce serving from 12 grams by 2025. That commitment along with lobbying efforts by the dairy industry have helped to move the school milk legislation along, according to Betty Berning, analyst with the Daily Dairy Report.
“While flavored milks contain added sugar, they’re also excellent sources of 13 vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients,” Berning said. “Childhood is an important time for building bone density, and calcium is needed for this to happen. Drinking milk and eating dairy products are easy ways for children to obtain this vital mineral. Calcium can be consumed via other foods, but it’s far less appetizing for children to obtain it primarily by eating vegetables. For example, kids would need to consume five cups of cooked broccoli or nearly four cups of cooked spinach to obtain the same amount of calcium contained in three glasses of milk.”
A MilkPEP-funded study showed that when only white milk was offered to students, milk consumption decreased an average of 35% and milk waste increased. Declining consumption is not good for the nation’s school kids or the dairy industry. According to USDA data, fluid milk sales fell 1.4% in the first quarter of this year from the first three months of 2022. While that’s a modest setback, it compounds decades worth of declines, said Sarina Sharp, also an analyst with the Daily Dairy Report. For example, 2023 first-quarter fluid milk sales were 9.4% lower than in 2018.
Berning added that with fluid milk consumption falling, school milk remains an important share of the Class I market, the highest-paid class of milk. “If school milk sales decline, farmers and processors stand to lose an important part of their market, and children will miss out on critical nutrients needed for long-term health,” she added.
In addition to lowering overall milk prices paid to producers, slowing fluid milk sales can lead to steep discounts on spot milk and lower mailbox milk prices. As bottling plants take in less milk, more of the milk supply goes into other dairy commodities.
Sharp said that in the first four months of this year, “bottlers took in 158 million pounds less milk than they would have if fluid sales had kept pace with 2022. While first-quarter milk output climbed only 1%, U.S. dairy processors had to absorb 1.3% more milk.”
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