Progress Report Positive For New Look Of School Milk On Eastern Shore
PHILADELPHIA, PA - The New Look of School Milk has made a positive impact in Eastern Shore school cafeterias, and as a result plastic bottles of milk are flying out of the cow-spotted refrigerated coolers.
With the New Look of School Milk program, supported by Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, schools in Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico and Worcester counties along Maryland's Eastern Shore now serve milk packaged in 8-ounce plastic bottles. Cloverland Green Spring Dairy of Baltimore, Md., one of 50 nationwide New Look of School Milk participating dairies, packages whole, reduced fat, skim, chocolate and lowfat chocolate milk in 8-ounce resealable bottles for the schools.
"We saw the new product advertised and thought the students would drink more milk this way," said Susan Bradford, Wicomico School District area manager. Wicomico moved away from paper cartons in favor of plastic bottles at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.
Bradford is currently working to secure grant money from Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association to better merchandise milk on the meal line in stainless steel milk refrigerators, complete with retail-style cow graphics. Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association offers a $1,000 grant for each 500 students in schools that convert to serving 8-ounce plastic bottles of ice cold milk in at least two flavors, in addition to white milk, on the meal line.
"We desperately needed new refrigerated coolers to keep the milk at the ice-cold temperature students want. I think we're really going to notice a difference when temperatures climb in the spring," said Loretta Savoy, Wicomico School District foodservice director.
Food Service Director Scott Blackburn is doing his part to boost dairy statistics in the Worcester County schools he oversees. Blackburn made the switch to plastic milk bottles three years ago. "Students are taking milk with their meals or buying more milk in the a la carte line," said Blackburn, whose schools served nearly 600,000 school lunches and almost 200,000 breakfasts during the 2005-2006 school year.
In participating schools in the four districts, ice-cold milk in plastic bottles is also being delivered to classrooms in insulated cooler bags as part of the Maryland Meals for Achievement classroom breakfast program schools. "It was like going from a Pinto to a Cadillac," Bradford said of the coolers provided by Mid-Atlantic Dairy.
"Children get one third of their dairy from school, and school is the only place some kids have the opportunity to drink milk," said Janette Carpentier, vice president of school marketing at Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association. "The New Look of School Milk was created to cater to students' milk wish list - kid-appealing containers, ice cold milk in lots of flavors, eye-catching merchandisers and easy access in all lunch lines."
Milk and milk products are a rich source of calcium and eight other essential vitamins and minerals. The United States Department of Agriculture recommends children aged 9 to 12 years consume three servings of dairy each day, while teens should consume four servings of milk, cheese and yogurt. According to Carpentier only 40 percent of males and 29 percent of females aged 6 to 11 years and 30 percent of males and 12 percent of females aged 12 to 19 meet the number of milk group servings recommended for their age. A 2005 study conducted on behalf of the National Dairy Council of more than 300 school children showed students were twice as likely to choose milk when it's served in a plastic bottle as opposed to a paper carton.
Nationwide, more than 5,800 schools, reaching 3.5 million students, have made the switch to the New Look of School Milk. The program is supported by the National Dairy Council, the nutrition marketing arm of Dairy Management Inc., which oversees the national dairy checkoff program.
For more information, you can visit www.dairyspot.com.
SOURCE: Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association