US Senate Agriculture Committee Advances Legislation to Expand Student Access to Plant-Based Milks

WASHINGTON, DC — The Plant Based Foods Association celebrates a bipartisan vote by the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee to advance legislation expanding access to plant-based milks in the National School Lunch Program. This exciting step forward, included in the amended Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (S. 222), authorizes schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to serve plant-based milks that are nutritionally equivalent to dairy milk. Further, the legislation authorizes parents and legal guardians, in addition to licensed physicians, to provide a written statement to guarantee that their students receive a non-dairy substitute for cow’s milk at school.

“We applaud the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee for advancing improvements to the National School Lunch Program that will expand students’ access to delicious, nutritious plant-based milks and will also reduce government waste,” said Marjorie Mulhall, Senior Director of Policy. 

The National School Lunch Program serves approximately 30 million U.S. students per year.  Under current law, students are only guaranteed a substitute for dairy milk if a parent provides a physician’s note documenting a disability, and schools are prohibited from proactively offering plant-based milks on the lunch line. This has resulted in millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent each year serving dairy milk to students who don’t drink it, whether due to lactose intolerance or other conditions and dietary preferences. Indeed, a 2019 USDA study found that 29% of school milk cartons are thrown away by kids, untouched. 

Fortified plant-based milks provide a much-needed option to deliver the nutrition that students need. PBFA looks forward to continuing to work with the U.S. Congress to ensure that this legislation is enacted soon.