A soy milk pilot at NYC Public Schools is lowering the district’s greenhouse gas emissions and increasing milk consumption amongst students.
After the passage of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025, which requires schools to provide non-dairy milk alternatives to students with dietary restrictions if they have a written note from their doctor, parent, or guardian, the New York City Office of Food & Nutrition Services (OFNS) and the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy (MOFP) launched a soy milk pilot at five schools in May in partnership with the Plant Powered School Meals Coalition, including Chilis on Wheels, Coalition for Healthy School Food, Friends of the Earth, and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Participating schools offered organic soy milk directly on the lunch line alongside existing dairy milk options. Data from the pilot revealed that among the three schools with baseline data, average daily milk selection increased by 18.6%, or about 126 additional servings per day. Simultaneously, average daily milk-related greenhouse gas emissions fell 17.4%.
In addition, at all five schools, 35.6% of milk selections were soy milk and greenhouse gas emissions per 100 milk servings declined 30.4%.
NYC is expanding the pilot to 12 additional schools this fall based on its initial success.
“We commend New York City for its leadership in building a school food program that is better for students and the planet,” said Chloë Waterman, deputy director at Friends of the Earth. “These results show that expanding plant-based offerings is a triple win for nutritional equity, student choice, and climate change.”
Dining and Cooking