Reps. Carter, Mace Introduce Bill to Require Healthy Milk Alternatives in Schools and Reduce Waste

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (D-LA) and Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced the bipartisan Freedom in School Cafeterias and Lunches (FISCAL) Act which requires schools to provide fluid milk substitutes in school cafeterias. This takes the onus off schoolchildren to request plant-based milk and instead places it on schools to give kids a real-time choice while they are in line to pick up food.

This bill will require schools to place plant-based milk alternatives that meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans alongside cow’s milk options in the cafeteria, allowing kids to select the nutritious beverage of their choice. That broader set of product offerings will perform like the marketplace, where plant-based milk options are readily available and a routine choice for consumers, our students, resulting in less waste.

In Congressman Carter’s home state, a 6-year-old lactose intolerant Black girl from Zachary, LA, was recently forced to consume dairy milk at school breakfast, became sick from it, and had to clean up her accident in class. The girl, despite documented medical records of lactose intolerance and perhaps dairy allergies, was still served cow’s milk. She soon became ill and requested bathroom breaks but was told by her teacher to stay in class. The child then defecated in her clothing and was forced to clean up the mess herself.

“It is abundantly clear that the current milk substitute system that USDA employs is delivering detrimental impacts on students,” said Rep. Carter. “Too many children who cannot safely or comfortably consume dairy are being forced to accept containers of cow’s milk on their lunch trays. My wife and children are all lactose intolerant, so I know just how uncomfortable consuming dairy milk can be for someone who cannot process it. The recent incident at Rollins Place Elementary School in Zachary is unacceptable and a glaring example of why we need immediate reforms in our schools to ensure all children have safe and appropriate dietary options. My bill ensures the health and nutritional needs of all our nation’s students are met. America needs to embrace its diversity at the lunch counter.”

There is a lack of understanding that cow’s milk makes many children ill, especially minority children. Studies show that a large percentage of Black, Latino, Native American, and Asian Americans have a degree of lactose intolerance, including roughly three-quarters of Black people. These children experience adverse health effects simply because, in practice, dairy is the only type of milk currently offered in schools.

Many children forgo drinking dairy milk they are served due to the adverse health symptoms they incur after consuming it. This has led to massive waste in our school systems.

“The federal government is wasting $400 million of our tax dollars a year by mandating that every school kid getting nutrition assistance has a carton of cow’s milk on the tray even though millions of them don’t want it and get sick from it,” said Rep. Mace. “Thirty percent of kids throw the milk away in the carton, and hundreds of millions of tax dollars wasted is not spilled milk. Kids should have a healthy choice in lunchrooms.”

“Upwards of 40 percent of kids participating in the National School Lunch Program are lactose intolerant, yet federal law requires that kids are served cow’s milk even if it makes them sick,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.  “There should be nothing controversial about Congressman Troy Carter’s bipartisan bill to give kids a healthy beverage option and to unwind a program that makes kids sick and causes a third of kids to throw unopened milk cartons in the trash.”

Background

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) requires public schools to serve cow’s milk with breakfast or lunch meals to kids who qualify for food assistance. The school must serve this milk, or reimbursement for the cost of the entire meal will be denied. The annual outlay for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reimbursements to local school districts is roughly $1 billion yearly just for the milk.

Although the NSLP allows milk substitutes, the law’s substitution requirements are burdensome, and delivering the substitute to kids is now unworkable and impractical. Unlike the policy for cow’s milk, USDA doesn’t reimburse schools for the substitute.

Based on the ethnic and racial backgrounds of the participants, perhaps half of the 30 million kids in the NSLP are lactose intolerant. The lack of availability of a milk substitute and the burdensome requirement for a substitute produce adverse outcomes. Millions of lactose-intolerant kids and others with an aversion to milk throw away the beverage, squandering $400 million (40% of milk is discarded), or they consume a product that makes them sick, making real-time learning in the classroom more difficult.

The FISCAL Act:

• Requires schools to offer kids cow’s milk and plant-based milk for breakfast and lunch. There will be no doctor’s note or other special request requirements.
• Ensures that any plant-based offering that is provided to children meets or exceeds nutritional standards contained in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans or as established by the Secretary of Agriculture.
• Reimburses schools for plant-based milks, just as it reimburses schools for cow’s milk.
• Only requires schools to stock enough plant-based milk to meet demand for it.

The FISCAL Act is endorsed by Animal Wellness Action, National Urban League, the National Rural Education Association, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders, Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Connection Team, and the Coalition for Healthy School Food.

Full bill text can be found here.

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