US Senate Finally Bites Into the Milk Monopoly
For decades, US schools have been little more than outlets for the dairy industry, indoctrinating children one carton of cow’s milk at a time. But change might finally be on the menu.
The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 started off as yet another handout to the dairy sector—designed to push full-fat milk back into schools. But under mounting pressure from physicians, campaigners, and parents, the bill has been amended to do something long overdue: make nondairy milks available to every student, without needing a doctor’s note or jumping through bureaucratic hoops.
Currently, if a child can’t stomach dairy, either literally or ethically, the system punishes them for it. Unless a parent forks out for a medical note, that child can go without. Lactose intolerance? Not the school’s problem. Dairy allergy? Prove it. Vegan? Deal with it.
This isn’t just outdated, it’s discriminatory. Lactose intolerance disproportionately affects people of colour, and dairy allergies are widespread, especially among children. But for years, schools have acted like cow’s milk is the only milk. It’s not. And it never was.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has rightly called the system what it is: dietary racism. And now, thanks to their campaigning, alongside groups like Friends of the Earth and the Plant Powered School Meals Coalition, the Senate Agriculture Committee has taken a step toward finally fixing it.
If passed, this bill will require schools to provide dairy-free options to those who need them and, crucially, will allow schools to offer them to everyone, without needing to justify it through illness.
As Dr. Neal Barnard of PCRM put it, “Putting parents in charge of their children’s nutrition at school is long overdue.”
He’s right. No one should need a medical defence to opt out of animal exploitation.
No one should have to explain why they don’t want to drink a liquid that was made for baby cows.
And no government should be pushing one industry’s products down the throats of schoolchildren while pretending it’s about “health.”
Chloë Waterman from Friends of the Earth summed it up perfectly: children should be offered drinks they can actually consume. Basic, right? But in the world of food politics, common sense has to fight hard to be heard.
Meanwhile, other countries are leaving the US in the dust. Spain has already mandated vegan options at every school meal, for both health and sustainability. And in the UK, Green Party deputy leader Zack Polanski has called for plant-based meals to be the default across schools.
This isn’t about preference. It’s about access, justice, and breaking free from systems that treat animal products as default and everyone else as the problem.
Milk is not a dietary requirement. But freedom of choice should be.
Let kids drink plants. Let parents opt out of lactations without a fight. And let’s stop pretending the dairy industry belongs in the school cafeteria at all.