strongly urge you to oppose H.R.1147/S.1957, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023

R.1147/S.1957 would allow school meals to offer full-fat (whole) and reduced-fat flavored and unflavored milk, and arbitrarily exempt full-fat and reduced-fat milk from current saturated fat limits in school meals, both of which are inconsistent with the recommendations of the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). [...] In addition, the DGAs recommend saturated fat should account for less than 10 percent of calories per day.1 As such, both the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) meal patterns allow only fat-free and low-fat milk and require that less than 10 percent of calories in the meal come from saturated fat over the week.2,3 Earlier this year, the U. [...] Allowing the change in the service of whole and reduced-fat milk will negate the progress that has been made in the planning and service of healthier foods to children in schools. [...] The fat content of school milk is neither the cause nor the solution to the decades-long decline in fluid milk consumption in the United States and the struggles of the dairy industry. [...] R.1147/S.1957 would be a departure from the long-standing tradition of establishing food and nutrition standards for federal child nutrition programs based upon the findings of independent reviewers and the scientific community.