Established in 1946, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federal child nutrition program that operates in public and nonprofit private schools. In an average year, NSLP serves 30 million children, providing them with nearly five billion healthy lunches. The National School Breakfast Program (SBP) has served American schoolchildren since 1975. Today, more than 15 million students start their day with a free or reduced cost breakfast at school. Providing these children with access to nutritious dairy products during breakfast and lunch helps them come to class ready to learn and sets the foundation for lifelong nutrition.
Healthy milk and dairy options in school meals—including lactose-free and reduced-lactose options—are the most important opportunity of the day for children to get the critical nutrients they need. Dairy products including milk, cheese, and yogurt play a central role in school meals by providing 13 essential nutrients students need for healthy growth and development. And as children grow, these nutrients become more important. Children age four to eight need 2.5 cups of dairy products per day. Children ages nine to 18 need three cups.
Today’s school-aged children are falling far short of those requirements. For all youth aged 19 and younger, mean intake of dairy is only 1.9 cup- equivalent per day. Another way of looking at these numbers:
School meals can help address these deficits. In particular, they have proven to be an important source of good nutrition for children facing food insecurity. IDFA advocates that child nutrition programs, including school meals, provide as many dairy options as possible to help school-age children DGA-recommended dairy nutrient intake levels.
Setting smart standards for school meals is a balancing act. Nutrition standards need to be implementable for school authorities, and they also must allow for attractive and tasty options for children. No matter what nutrition requirements are put into place for school meals, in order to contribute to children’s healthy eating patterns, each component of a meal must be eaten and not wasted.
Policymakers should:
The modern marketplace offers a wide variety of nutritious dairy products. Research confirms these products promote health. Given the array of options, and each child’s unique needs and preferences, school lunches should not be one-size-fits all.
Milk at all fat levels contains the same 13 essential nutrients. Additionally, a growing body of evidence indicates that consumption of full fat dairy foods is not associated with higher risk of negative health outcomes. Some studies even show higher milk fat consumption is associated with lower childhood obesity. IDFA supports legislation like the “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act,” which would permit schools to offer students whole, reduced-fat, low-fat, and fat-free flavored and unflavored milk.
Flavored milks provide the same micronutrients as white milk, but with a flavor many children prefer. Children who consume flavored milk drink more milk overall and have higher intakes of vitamins D, A, calcium, potassium and other nutrients than children who don't drink flavored milk.
Recently, milk processors that supply U.S. schools have voluntarily committed to added sugar content of no more than 10 grams of added sugar per cup of flavored milk through the Healthy School Milk Commitment. When that Commitment was announced in April 2023, flavored milk products offered in schools contained an average of 8.2 grams of added sugar per serving. By July 2025, the average had fallen to 7.2 grams of added sugar per serving.
Flavored milk aligns with the DGA basis for the NSLP, SBP, and other child nutrition programs and it increases participation in school meal programs. Conversely, when flavored milk have been removed from school meals, those restrictions have resulted in decreased school milk consumption and increased food waste.
Schools should offer lactose free milk as an option in all reimbursable meals. Reduced lactose and lactose free dairy products are permitted as an option in school meals. Providing lactose free milk, as well as other dairy products with low lactose content, allows more school children, including those with lactose malabsorption or lactose intolerance, to find a dairy option that meets their needs and will provide them with good nutrition. Lactose free varieties of milk, along with dairy products that are naturally low in lactose, such as yogurt and natural cheese, are important options for children that need to avoid lactose in their diet, while also providing the same essential nutrients as their conventional dairy counterparts.
Any non-dairy milk alternatives offered in school meals need to provide similar levels of nutrients to regular dairy milk, to ensure that similar nutrition is being provided into the school meal and overall diet.
Cheese and yogurt are nutrient rich products that provide many essential nutrients, such as calcium and protein. Consumption of yogurt has been associated with higher diet quality in children, with higher intake of multiple nutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Scientific studies also have pointed to the favorable effect of yogurt on the gut microbiome and related health status.
Yogurt has been an important meat alternate in school meals in the past and should continue to be part of the protein group for meal planning purposes, as proposed. Yogurt is a nutrient rich dairy product that provides many of the same essential nutrients as milk, such as calcium and protein. As with milk, yogurt is widely available in both unflavored and flavored varieties to be used either as an ingredient, eaten on its own or in conjunction with other foods, such as fruit. Yogurt is also widely available in a variety of formats, in large tubs for use as an ingredient or portioned out, or in individual cups or containers. These individual servings are particularly convenient for serving, especially for grab-and-go meals or in-classroom breakfast.
Consumption of yogurt has been associated with higher diet quality in children, with higher intake of multiple nutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Yogurt consumption has been associated with lower incidence of cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents, particularly total and abdominal excess body fat.
Flavored yogurt also helps increase the consumption of dairy, in keeping with recommended intakes of the DGA. Yogurt products are available with varying levels of sugar, so that schools can purchase the variety that best meets the needs of their students.
Yogurt’s role as a meat alternate/protein food is particularly key in the School Breakfast Program. In addition to being well-accepted as a breakfast food, a study identified yogurt inclusion at breakfast triggering an improvement in nutrient intake and in other nutrient dense foods, like fruit. When considering a variety of breakfast options, the optimal breakfast pattern for children includes yogurt and milk among other foods and beverages. Yogurt is also a meat alternate/protein source in the school meal patterns that contains lower sodium than other options, helping school food service operators manage sodium in menus.
Scientific studies point to the favorable effect of yogurt on the gut microbiome and related health status. Yogurt, including both low-fat and full-fat yogurt, has been shown to have beneficial influence on the microbiome, as well as associations with healthier dietary patterns and reduced visceral fat mass. Diets high in fermented foods, including yogurt, can increase microbiota diversity and decrease markers of inflammation.
Cheese is a significant source of nutrition in school meals. While different varieties of cheese have different nutrient profiles, cheeses are important sources of the dairy nutrient package, including calcium, high quality protein and other nutrients.
Cheese is available in many configurations of packaging and format. It can be used as an ingredient in other dishes or can be packaged individually in sticks or shapes. These individual servings can be a key part of grab and go or pre-packed meals.
Cheese has long been identified as a meat alternate in the school meal programs and is included in school meals’ the protein group since, in many cases cheese is a major component of meal entrees. Cheese as a protein source becomes even more important as schools serve meat-free meal options. In many cases, these vegetarian options rely on cheese as the protein to meet meal pattern requirements.
While USDA has previously considered further lowering sodium in school meals overall, there are some foods such as cheese for which salt and hence sodium serves a functional and food safety role. In cheese, salt promotes food safety by affecting fermentation, which can influence pH and water activity, while also preventing the growth of pathogens. Salt is not added to cheese beyond levels necessary for functionality and for food safety parameters. Sodium also plays a role in the texture of cheeses, including melting and creaminess. There are multiple hurdles to reducing sodium levels in many types of cheese, including technological feasibility, efficacy of salt substitutes and regulatory requirements. While some reductions may be technically feasible, the final product may not be acceptable due to flavor. In some cases, reducing sodium could result in products that would present a significant food safety risk, increased food waste and decreased shelf-life.
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Nutrition
Vice President, Legislative Affairs
