The New Look of School Milk
Byline: Laura Wilford, Wisconsin Dairy Council

Flip the calendar and you will find the start to the 2005-2006 school year – a date that students and teachers are keenly aware of. We at the Wisconsin Dairy Council (WDC), the nutrition arm of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB), are also anticipating the beginning of another school year. To us, school lunch is not simply a meal, but a chance for children to learn about proper nutrition.

School milk consumption has been a topic of special interest for years in the dairy industry. Though it's one of the easiest ways for children to get the recommended three servings of dairy daily, its consumption in schools has waned over the years. Recently, a new surge of interest has helped get updated packaging and a wider variety of flavors into the hands of many school children.

In 2002 the National Dairy Council (NDC) issued the National School Milk Pilot Test, which surveyed 100,000 students from 146 schools nationwide who had switched from paper cartons to plastic packaging. The study revealed the following:

• Milk consumption increased 37%
• Milk sales increased 18%
• School lunch participation in secondary schools increased 5%

Those results helped bring about the national "New Look of School Milk" program that offers suggestions, support materials and merchandise to schools looking to increase milk consumption. The results also triggered schools to take a closer look at their own school-milk programs.

Last spring, the Wisconsin Dairy Council and two Wisconsin milk processors worked with school districts in Wisconsin to introduce and test plastic packaging in their lunch lines.

In Oregon, Wis., students were served plastic containers of 2% white milk and 1% chocolate as well as traditional cartons as part of a pilot study with Foremost Farms, USA. Middle school and high school students filled out pre- and post-questionnaires, rating the milk. Overall, the students found the plastic container easier to open, easier to drink from and less likely to leak. Students also reported that the milk tasted better from the plastic container. Specifically:

• Satisfaction with the container increased by 32%
• Likelihood of ranking the packaging as "excellent" increased by 44%

Another pilot test took place in West Salem schools with Swiss Valley Farms. The schools reported serving 75 more bottles of milk per day when the milk was packaged in plastic bottles. Their middle school students have even organized a petition showing their interest in keeping the "cool" containers around.

Providing updated packaging is a process that involves both milk processors and school foodservice departments. In Wisconsin, Foremost Farms, USA, Dean Foods, Kemps and Swiss Valley Farms each offer milk in plastic packaging to schools. While this packaging demands a higher price per unit, it's been shown to increase consumption.

The bottom line is that offering plastic packaging increases milk consumption in schools. On any given school day in Wisconsin, only 60 percent of students drink milk at school. Nationally, non-milk beverages still represent 98 percent of ala carte sales and over 40 percent of total school beverage sales. It is our job as teachers, parents and dairy industry leaders to do what we can to encourage children at school to enjoy cold, fresh, delicious milk.

With the new school year just around the corner, I'm confident that the schools which introduced the new packaging last year will pick up where they left off. The success that we've seen will undoubtedly lead to more schools offering what the students demand. Dairy Council staff will be working diligently to assist schools in improving the milk experience at school and to teach children that milk is a key part of a healthy lifestyle.

Laura Wilford, Director of the Wisconsin Dairy Council for the past 19 years, is a registered dietician. Wilford works with a staff of six regional program managers outreaching to schools and media outlets throughout Wisconsin.