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The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act may have its best chance yet of passing Congress this year. But the potential return of whole and 2% percent options to school lunch menus is only one piece of the evolution of dairy’s role in federal nutrition policies, as two NMPF experts say in a Dairy Defined podcast released today.

“We’re in a pretty exciting spot right now for dairy and nutrition,” said Miquela Hanselman, NMPF’s manager for regulatory affairs. “National Milk is working with other dairy organizations to kind of make sure that we have all of our bases covered.”

Hanselman is NMPF’s point person on the upcoming, twice-a-decade revision to the dietary guidelines used in federal nutrition programs, due in 2025. She’s joined in the podcast by Senior Director for Government Relations Claudia Larson, who is advocating for whole milk legislation in Congress. Evolving science – and attitudes – toward the benefits of whole milk in children’s diets is building momentum for expanded milk options in federal programs.

“The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act expands the varieties of healthy milk options schools can choose to serve in meal programs, and we see this as a commons-sense approach for addressing nutrition insecurity among our nation's youth,” she said. “Children and adolescents do not meet their daily dairy intake recommendations, and this is a nutrition problem for our kids because dairy plays an unparalleled role in delivering the vital nutrients they need to grow and thrive.”