Lakeland Dairies celebrates World School Milk Day

Today - September 25 - marks World School Milk Day.

The aim of the day is to highlight the importance of milk in providing essential nutrients for school children.

Processor Lakeland Dairies' representatives visited Killeshandra National School to toast the occasion with a glass of the white stuff. They also took the opportunity to promote the event and highlight the health benefits of drinking milk and milk products.

Lakeland Dairies Group CEO Colin Kelly said: “Milk coming from our 3,200 farm families is the cornerstone of a healthy diet. It is heartening to see the children here in Killeshandra National School drink the Viva Milk with smiles on their faces.

"The Lakeland Dairies farm families are up at the crack of dawn every day ensuring the milk that is in your fridges and on your tables each morning is top quality and fuels healthy bodies across the country.”

Scientific research reveals that approximately 90% of the human skeleton is formed by aged 18 years, so ensuring children receive the recommended daily intake of calcium is vital to later overall adult health and bone strength.

In line with this research, the Department of Health’s Food Pyramid recommends that children between the ages of five to eight years consume three servings of dairy per day; while nine to 18 years olds are advised to have five servings per day.

An example of one healthy serving includes 200ml of Lakeland Dairies’ leading VIVA Flavoured milk.

Webinar

Meanwhile, the National Dairy Council (NDC) is running a webinar to teach school children across Ireland the benefits of drinking school milk. It will take place at 1pm today (Wednesday).

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, said: “World School Milk Day promotes Ireland’s grass-based production system and promotes the benefits of dairy in a healthy balanced diet."

He acknowledged the work done by NDC in running the EU school milk scheme in Irish schools on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, making available subsidised milk to all our schoolchildren.

"The health benefits to our children of such school programmes cannot be underestimated. I would encourage all eligible schools to register for the School Milk Scheme so that pupils in schools can benefit from affordable milk that will encourage children to adopt healthy eating choices at a young age,” he said.

The NDC webinar, which is 30 minutes long, will feature a host of educational activities aimed specifically at school children including an interview with a school participating in the School Milk Scheme, an interview with a dairy farmer, a talk from Louise Reynolds, dietitian with the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, and a cooking demonstration with cookery teacher Lisa Davies.

Please click here to register for the Webinar.