THOMASVILLE, Pa. — Dairy farmers stood shoulder to shoulder with processing industry leaders and local school board members Thursday, Jan. 15, as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and USDA National Nutrition Advisor Dr. Ben Carson visited to help serve lunch, including half pints of Rutter’s whole milk and whole chocolate milk.

The visit came one day after President Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act into law and one week after USDA and HHS released the 2025–30 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Together, the actions restore whole milk to federal nutrition policy after a 15-year absence from school meals. “This is a big day,” Rollins said. “We are celebrating whole milk back in schools.”

“We are celebrating real food, better nutrition, and common sense back at the table for our kids.”

Rollins was joined by Dr. Carson, a former Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon, along with representatives of 97 MILK, the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Rutter’s Dairy, the Spring Grove Area School Board, and area farmers.

Todd Rutter told Rollins that Rutter’s Dairy is “ready to go” with whole milk and whole chocolate milk in half-pint cartons for schools.

After remarks and a group photo in front of the milk truck, Rollins and Carson went inside the school to serve lunch and whole milk alongside foodservice staff. As she headed into the lunchroom, Rollins summed it up simply: “We’re getting more whole milk back in schools, more nutrition, more protein, and the best is yet to come.”

While media were not permitted to follow them into the school, photos provided by Rollins’ staff showed the officials serving hamburgers and cartons of whole milk directly to students.

“I love all of you out here, but I’m really excited about the kids in there,” Rollins said. “That’s what this is about.”

She thanked IDFA as a partner as she greeted CEO Michael Dykes and moved down the receiving line to Brad and Charlene Walker of Walk-Le Holsteins who ship their milk to Rutter’s. “You can see their silos from here,” Dykes told the Secretary.

Rollins also paused to recognize school board members in attendance and spoke briefly with Glenn Hursh, a Lancaster County dairy farmer and chairman of 97 Milk. As she came to him in the receiving line, looking at the signs and banners, he explained 97 Milk is a non-profit organization of volunteers focused on milk education.

Breakfast question still unresolved

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act amends the National School Lunch Program to once again allow schools to serve whole and 2% milk, reversing restrictions imposed following the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

During the press gaggle, Farmshine asked why USDA’s Jan. 14 guidance states the changes pertain to school lunches only and whether guidance would soon be extended to school breakfasts.

“The actual piece of legislation that was signed by the President yesterday is specific to lunch,” Rollins said. “But at USDA, we are looking at ways to build on that. We can’t make any big announcements yet, but hopefully good news coming on that soon.”

U.S. House Ag Committee Chairman GT Thompson, author of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, told Farmshine that he raised the issue directly with Secretary Rollins during her visit to the Pennsylvania Farm Show later that day, pointing to regulations and statute already coordinating the school breakfast program to follow the same standards for fluid milk as the school lunch program. Thompson assured: “We will get this clarified.”

Asked by another reporter why whole milk has become a priority for the administration, Dr. Carson stepped forward to emphasize childhood development.

“Whole milk is a real food,” Carson said. “For a long time, we took certain fats and pushed them to the background. But the brain is developing from the moment of conception until your mid-to-late 20s, and it needs something nutritious to grow on.”

Carson added the shift to embracing fuller fat milk and dairy reflects a broader reset in federal nutrition policy.

“In 1980, the federal government put out the first dietary guidelines, and somehow we got off track,” he said. “Now, this is the first time we’ve had a true cross-agency effort — USDA, HHS, CMS, FDA — everybody working together.”

Rollins credited HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with pushing the administration toward a prevention-focused health strategy. “This fundamental shift is about cutting health care costs through health,” she said.

 “Real food is the solution to so many of the challenges we face.”

A day after the bill was signed into law, USDA guidance was circulated by the School Nutrition Association (SNA), the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), American Dairy Association North East (ADANE), and the School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania (SNAPA), all reiterating that schools may begin offering all approved milk varieties at lunch immediately.

PDE, for example, confirmed it is working with the state’s nutrient-analysis software provider to address the saturated fat exemption.

Some districts have moved quickly. For example, Conrad Weiser Area School District in Berks County, Pennsylvania promptly issued a districtwide memo announcing the expanded milk choices at lunch based on processor availability.

Congressman Thompson reported his home district, Bald Eagle Area in Centre County, has also implemented the change, with more districts expected to follow not just in Pennsylvania but across the country.

The Grassroots Pennsylvania Dairy Advisory Committee has begun tracking processors and school districts ready to move forward; others are tracking readiness as well. 97 Milk is working with the Grassroots committee to put a packet together for citizens to talk to their schools. Check 97milk.com for this information in the near future.