Food & Nutrition

Why Kids Can’t Get Whole Milk—but Can Get Sugar for Breakfast

A battle over bringing whole milk back to cafeterias highlights the real food problem facing America’s next generation.
Why Kids Can’t Get Whole Milk—but Can Get Sugar for Breakfast
Cafeteria lunches are decided by factors ranging from budgets to child preferences. Dragan Mujan/Shutterstock
Sheramy Tsai
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Lawmakers are pushing to bring whole milk back to school cafeterias after it was banned in 2012. It’s a battle years in the making, but milk may be the wrong fight.

Children face a deeper problem: a school food system shaped less by health than by cost, convenience, and supply chains. While Congress argues over fat percentages, cafeterias remain dominated by processed, prepackaged meals that meet regulations but fail to meet nutritional ideals.

Sheramy Tsai
Sheramy Tsai
Author
Sheramy Tsai, BSN, RN, is a seasoned nurse with a decade-long writing career. An alum of Middlebury College and Johns Hopkins, Tsai combines her writing and nursing expertise to deliver impactful content. Living in Vermont, she balances her professional life with sustainable living and raising three children.