School Milk List is a service of FAO’s Trade and Markets Division
Think about the messages and reports received on World School Milk Day, it’s impressive how the celebrations have spread – touching all 5 continents. As members will know, there are no fixed rules about how to celebrate the Day and it is interesting to see how it is approached in the different countries. For example, in the recent messages that were sent out, we had:
· Barbados: Private dairy organizing a celebration in a school – because of the size of Barbados, this also counts as a national celebration and was covered in both the nation’s newspapers;
· China: The national dairy association organised the celebrations;
· Germany: A packaging company organised national celebrations;
· Myanmar: Dairy/milk consumption promotion project organized the celebrations;
· USA: The state-level agricultural bureau organized the celebrations, with a local dairy donating milk.
Looking at the other examples sent out, and to be sent out, this range of approaches is representative of what has happened elsewhere.
The variety and diversity of the events is an illustration of the strength of World School Milk Day; that is, it is no longer promoted or endorsed by a particular agency (although FAO is often mentioned somewhere in the background). As a result, it is likely that it will become embedded in organizations’ and schools’ calendars as an annual event. This is particularly evident in the USA, where it has been promoted by regional dairy associations, but up take has been on the level of the individual school or school district.
Once again, well done to all who organised celebrations (and for those that didn’t, time to put it in your calendars for next year).
Michael