Sen. Justice Applauds Potential Return Of Whole Milk To Schools

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., is touting agriculture this week, including the advancement of a bill to bring whole milk back to schools.

The “Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025,” of which Justice is a co-sponsor, advanced out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Wednesday, on which Justice serves.

He did not appear to be present at the committee meeting when the vote took place.

Whole and 2 percent milk have not been permitted in meals at schools that participate in the federal National School Lunch Program since 2012 after the passage of the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act in 2010.  The restriction was intended to reduce children’s consumption of saturated fat and calories in an effort to curb childhood obesity.

On his official X account, formerly Twitter, Justice said that whole milk is vital to children’s growth and “It is time to bring it back in schools!”

The bill also loosens restrictions on non-dairy milks being served in schools, and excludes fats from milk from being counted towards the allowable saturated fat content of a meal.

The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act passed the House of Representatives during the previous Congress.

The dairy industry has blamed the limit on fat content of milk in schools for consumption declines. However, analysis by the USDA in 2022 shows that milk consumption has steadily declined for decades, and the more recent decline started prior to the implementation of the in-school fat ban in 2012.

Dairy represents a small portion of West Virginia’s agricultural industry, with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture reporting the state is home to roughly 40 dairy farms. The total economic impact of dairy products produced and sold in West Virginia is $1.5 billion, which generates 9,800 jobs for West Virginians.

Justice posted “a pat on the back” to egg farmers and producers on X Tuesday. In the same message, he also thanked President Donald Trump for helping to “lower the cost of eggs by 61% since taking office.”

The most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics only indicates a 13% drop in egg prices since the end of January 2025. New data is scheduled to be published June 11.

Also on Wednesday, Justice spoke during a U.S. Senate Special Committee On Aging hearing on the aging farm workforce. He said the country can’t afford to look the other way from the loss of family farms across the country.

“We don’t have young people going into farming today. Why would they?” Justice said. “I mean, they’re not nuts. Why would they? Everybody’s screaming in a bubble, and we don’t hear them, and we best better hear them America.”