Highlights as more than 80 countries celebrate World Milk Day

By Jim Cornall

- Last updated on GMT

More than 600 registered events took place June 1 to mark World Milk Day.
More than 600 registered events took place June 1 to mark World Milk Day.

Related tags Milk Nutrition Nestlé

World Milk Day was celebrated globally June 1, with companies, individuals, retailers and organizations all promoting milk.

Under the umbrella of the Global Dairy Platform (GDP), almost 600 registered events took place in more than 80 countries, and included promotion of products, school visits, healthy activities and plant inaugurations. 

Nestlé inaugurates milk chilling center

In Seeppukulama, Sri Lanka, Nestlé inaugurated an upgraded milk chilling center to give around 300 local farmers increased opportunities to sell their milk to the company.

chilling SL
Hon. P. Harrison, Minister of Rural Economic Affairs; Asoka Kuruppu, Nestlé Lanka senior manager – Agri Serivces; Rohit Mittal, Nestlé Lanka vice president – technical; Shivani Hegde, Nestlé Lanka managing director and Bandula Egodage, Nestlé Lanka vice president – corporate affairs and communications, pouring milk from the first milk can

The chilling and storage facilities enable them to sell more milk and keep it fresh until it is taken to the Nestlé factory in Kurunegala, for manufacturing dairy-based products.

The enhanced milk chilling centre was inaugurated by Minister of Rural Economic Affairs, Hon. P. Harrison.

Shivani Hegde, Nestlé Lanka’s managing director, said by helping dairy farmers to increase supply, Nestlé is not only supporting rural livelihoods, but also helping consumers to increase milk consumption.

Nestlé is currently the largest private sector collector of milk in the country. Its payment to local dairy farmers over the last three years amounts to more than Rs. 10.5bn ($68.8m).

FrieslandCampina partners with football association

FrieslandCampina celebrated World Milk Day in Myanmar by partnering with the Myanmar Football Federation and healthcare professionals to raise awareness of milk.

fc-myanmar football
Football was a big part of FrieslandCampina’s World Milk Day activities in Myanmar

A study conducted by FrieslandCampina in November 2016 discovered that milk consumption among Myanmar children is low and infrequent, with only 1 out of 10 children in the country regularly consuming milk.

As part of FrieslandCampina’s weeklong initiative, there are health talks taking place for young trainees, parents and coaches at Myanmar’s National Football Academy on June 7 to educate them about practicing a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Pascal Bardouil, managing director of FrieslandCampina Myanmar said the goal of the partnership with the football federation was to encourage young footballers and children across Myanmar to drink a glass of milk and get an hour of physical exercise every day.

Including milk in the diet will also be shared with healthcare professionals in Yangon on June 9 and Mandalay on June 10.

Cooking contest in Nigeria

wamco wmd

FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria celebrated World Milk Day by bringing to focus the versatility of milk through the ‘Cook-with-Milk 2017 Pecadomo Nutrition Contest’ to promote milk and draw attention to the importance of preparing healthy, nutritious meals.

This activity brought nutrition experience to more than 4,000 school pupils from about 200 schools participating in the competition.

The school with the best recipe, Whitefield School, Mazamaza, Lagos went home with the first prize of N500,000 ($1,568). 

FrieslandCampina WAMCO also celebrated the day with its employees with a fitness challenge. 

Dutch Lady Singapore mass workout to launch campaign

Dutch Lady Singapore (Dutch Lady) brought together more than 5,000 school children and their parents to participate in a mass workout at the Singapore Sports Hub.   

This event marked the Singapore launch on World Milk Day of Dutch Lady's health campaign, Drink.Move.BeStrong.

In response to Singapore's rising trend of obesity and inactive children, and the government's efforts to get children healthier and more active, Dutch Lady is partnering with ActiveSG, Singapore's national movement for sport and physical activity to conduct nutrition education programs and sports clinics in 70 pre- and primary schools across the country.

singapore
SportSG CEO Lim Teck Yin leads ActiveSG and Dutch Lady in celebrating World Milk Day

Drink.Move.BeStrong has been running in other Southeast Asian countries since 2014 and is designed to encourage people to make healthy eating decisions and exercise.

The event's participants were treated to a do-it-yourself drinks station for children to learn smoothie recipes; a rock-climbing wall and skipping station for children to test their stamina; sports-focused activities conducted by the ActiveSG Football Academy and Athletics Club; and an arts-and-craft session for children to create unique art pieces from recycled milk cartons.

Dutch Lady also hosted children from a voluntary welfare organization for the underprivileged at the event.

Arla celebrates in UK

A number of events took place at Arla’s UK sites including Leeds Head Office, Stourton, Taw Valley, Oswestry and Westbury.

Farmer owners, colleagues and consumers joined the global event by posting a picture or Boomerang video and sharing it on social media with the hashtag #worldmilkday.

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