Many CA students cannot drink milk. Schools must adapt

By Susie Sayre and Emily Lynn, especially for CalMatters

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do you have milk For the first time in history, every student in Los Angeles County’s El Monte Union High School District can finally say yes.

The federal one Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act includes a provision allowing schools to proactively offer plant-based milk options, such as soy milk, in the lunch line. This is a big step forward for millions of students who cannot digest lactose or who choose dairy-free products for health, ethical, religious or cultural reasons.

After the law changed last year, we worked together—as a student advocate and the district director of food services—to bring soy milk to our lunch lines along with cow’s milk. About 99% of students in our district are of a racial or ethnic background with a high prevalence of lactose intolerance. They have embraced the new plant-based option.

Now all our students can benefit from the nutrients available in dairy and non-dairy milks and everyone feels included at the lunch table.

There is still a problem. Because of federal policies that subsidize cow’s milk and require it in school meals, soy milk costs about 75 cents more per carton. with reimbursing schools at $5.71 per lunchmost cannot afford to offer non-dairy milk without special funding, which we were lucky enough to receive on a one-off basis from Friends of the Earth.

California’s new budget will help address this challenge by investing $400 million in school kitchen infrastructure and training, allowing those funds to be used to provide healthy and sustainable foods, including plant-based beverages. For the first time, school districts will have a real opportunity to expand access to non-dairy milk.

But it’s up to schools and districts to take advantage of it.

Nearly 70% of Americans agree students must have access to nutritious plant-based beverages at school. This support reflects a wider reality: millions of children cannot digest lactose.

lactose intolerance disproportionately affects students of color. About 90 percent of people from parts of East Asia, 80 percent of Native Americans, 65 percent of Africans and African-Americans, and 50 percent of Hispanics are lactose intolerant, compared with 20 percent of Caucasians, according to Harvard Health. In California, where 80% of public school students are of color and 60% rely on school meals, the lack of affordable non-dairy options is a serious problem.

The benefits of expanding access to plant-based milk extend far beyond equity.

Research from Johns Hopkins University found that dairy industries contribute 32% of greenhouse gas emissions related to school meals. Cow’s milk is responsible for most of it. The same study found that substituting soy milk could reduce emissions from school meals by 25%.

California is one of the few states offering free school lunches for all public school students. It is also a leader in climate-smart public procurement and sustainable food systems, so the state has a high-impact opportunity to reduce the environmental footprint of its school meals.

The current system is also extremely wasteful. Nationally, approx 45 million gallons of milk are wasted in schools every year. Offering plant-based alternatives increases the likelihood that students will actually drink what schools serve, reducing waste.

Students have spent years advocating for more inclusive cafeteria options. They pushed for policy changes in Washington and worked locally to give students a voice in school food decisions.

Their voices are heard.

California’s newly adopted budget protects school meals for all and invests in school kitchens, farm-to-school programs and healthy, sustainable food supplies. By providing funding that schools can use to purchase dairy-free milk, state leaders have created a powerful opportunity to make school meals more inclusive.

Districts must now take advantage of this opportunity and ensure that every student has access to a beverage that meets their needs.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.