NYU Professor: Drinking Milk Is Racist
by Frank Bergman
A prominent bioethics professor is drawing backlash after suggesting President Donald Trump’s bipartisan push to restore whole milk in school lunches carries echoes of fascist, Nazi, and white nationalist ideology.
The accusation has provoked a widespread backlash, illustrating the growing politicization of everyday public policy.
The controversy follows Trump’s signing of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025.
The legislation reinstates whole milk in federal school lunch programs after its removal during the Obama administration’s 2010 nutrition overhaul.
The bill passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support.
It cleared the House by voice vote and won unanimous approval in the Senate.
Despite that consensus, New York University (NYU) bioethics Professor Arthur Caplan publicly questioned the cultural meaning of the policy.
Writing in The American Journal of Bioethics, Caplan claims:
“As a student of and written on the history of science and public health under fascist regimes, I am suspicious.
“Milk drinking is political.
“Drinking whole white milk has played a big role in racist and far-right thinking.”
Caplan connected whole milk consumption to historical authoritarian movements.
“Fascists have used the beverage as a rallying cry for white supremacy since the days of Il Duce’s (Benito Mussolini’s) public health campaigns in Italy,” he wrote.
“The Nazis were enamored of whole milk as well,” he continued.
“In America, drinking whole milk has for years been a part of alt-right, white nationalist messaging in tweets, memes, and videos.”
Caplan concluded with a broader warning: