A bill before the Senate would modify Wisconsin’s long-standing restrictions on serving margarine in state institutions, with a particular focus on schools.
The bill, Senate Bill 645 (along with its companion, Assembly Bill 664), clarifies that butter must be the default option offered to students in public, private and tribal schools, with exceptions for students who have allergies or other health requirements. The proposed legislation must still be approved by the Senate to become law.
The bill is “reamplifying what was already on the books,” said Pam Jahnke, a podcast host with “The Mid-west Farm Report,” referring to Wisconsin’s margarine legislation, which she supports.
As an agribusiness reporter who grew up on a dairy farm, Jahnke has seen firsthand the dairy industry’s crucial contribution to Wisconsin’s economy and livelihood.
“Schools and institutional buyers are always supposed to only have butter,” she said.
Although state law has long prohibited serving margarine as a substitute for butter to students, patients or inmates of a state institution, its wording has become outdated and lacks specificity. To clear this up, the proposed bill amends the law to define butter as “butter,” rather than “table butter,” as it’s currently defined, and expands the prohibition against serving margarine to public, private and tribal schools specifically.
When Krista Dolan, Iowa Country Farm Bureau president, learned that her son’s school was serving margarine with school lunches, she was alarmed. As a Wisconsin dairy farmer, Dolan described feeling “a little disgusted” by the school’s choice to serve anything other than butter.
“In reality, a prisoner is getting better food than a kid in school,” she said. “That’s what I had a problem with.”
Dolan was informed by her son’s school that the food service department had made the decision to switch from butter to margarine for cost efficiency and to meet fat thresholds.
USDA school meal standards require that saturated fats must remain below 10% of the total calories of a student’s lunch. Margarine contains considerably less saturated fat than butter, which is why schools gravitated toward it.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Madison Metropolitan School District both declined to comment on the legislation and how it might affect the school food service programs.
Still, Dolan and other parents from her son’s school were concerned about the nutritional implications of serving margarine instead of butter.
This concern reflects a broader national debate over whether butter or margarine is a healthier option. For decades, butter faced criticism from health officials because of its saturated fat content and possible links to heart disease. Margarine can be difficult to categorize, as the term refers to a wide range of oil and plant-based spreads, but is widely identified as ultra-processed. Research suggests that regularly eating ultra-processed foods can increase the risk of cognitive impairment and lead to many physical health conditions. These varying narratives can leave consumers stumped while grocery shopping.
“There’s downfalls for both” butter and margarine, said fourth-generation butter manufacturer Timon Zander. “They both need to be used in moderation. The pitch I’m gonna make on butter is that it is much more natural than what your plant-based margarines are gonna be.”
Recent U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition guidelines have urged Americans to shift away from ultraprocessed foods and prioritize protein, full-fats and whole foods. This helps to explain why butter consumption is at an all-time high. In accordance with the USDA’s guidelines, the federal Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 went into effect in January of this year. This law allows for schools to begin offering whole milk to students, rather than just low-fat and fat-free milk options.
“Dairy has a halo right now,” said Gina Mode, a coordinator of cheese and industry applications with the Center for Dairy Research at UW–Madison. “They’re natural products. They’ve been produced and consumed for thousands of years.”
As a licensed cheese and butter grader, Mode said her biggest concern about the butter boom is consumer confusion. She worries that plant-based products marketed as “milk” and “butter” may lead shoppers to believe they’re buying dairy products with the same nutritional benefits. It is possible, she added, that dissatisfaction with the nondairy product may cause consumers never to purchase butter again.
“I totally understand if people have allergies,” Mode said. “We’re not trying to say that those other products shouldn’t exist or shouldn’t be available for people to make that choice,” but “it should be easy for someone that’s not a professional food scientist to easily tell what they’re buying.”
Earlier this year, the U.K. went so far as to ban the word “milk” from the marketing and packaging of nondairy products. And, here in Wisconsin, the implications of potential consumer confusion and a potential shift away from butter are why laws like the proposed state legislation are so important to farmers and dairy manufacturers across the state.
“As a nurse and a mom, making sure that folks actually know what they’re consuming is important to me,” said Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Fox Crossing), a cosponsor of the bill, in a statement. “I have supported many ‘truth-in-advertising’ proposals this session because of that. Consumers deserve choice, and those choices should be made clear.”
Above all else, protecting the state’s identification as “America’s Dairyland” is crucial for many Wisconsinites. The dairy industry contributes $52.8 billion to Wisconsin’s economy each year. Notably, America’s Dairyland is the only U.S. state still requiring all retail butter to be graded and licenses workers to do so.
To many dairy advocates, these policies are as much about identity as anything else.
“I’m proud that Wisconsin continues to proudly call itself America’s Dairyland. Sometimes that takes a little maintenance,” Jahnke said. “It’s educating people, reminding them about our culture, continuing to stand strong for our number one industry.”
