World Milk Day 2018 – Feedback (English)

20 June 2018
For immediate release

Press release issued by Dr Chris van Dijk, chief executive of the Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO).

Raising a glass to milk

World Milk Day was initiated in 2001 by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which actively encourages milk and dairy consumption as part of a daily diet. All aspects of milk are celebrated in many countries all over the world, and the number of countries and activities are increasing every year.

To date, a total of 586 events were recorded on the official World Milk Day website as part of the 2018 celebrations – https://worldmilkday.org/.

Joining in the worldwide celebrations, the MPO collaborated with Milk SA’s Consumer Education Project (CEP) to promote milk as the sports drink of choice. Sportsmen and -women around the globe are increasingly using milk and dairy products as fuel, for faster recovery from injuries, to help with muscle building and as a recovery drink after intensive training sessions.

Crossfitters at Crossfit Radium in Centurion celebrated the qualities of milk by wearing blue and white shirts to their training classes on 31 May and each athlete received 500 ml full-cream milk from Clover afterwards. Christine Leighton and Maretha Vermaak of the CEP of Milk SA were on hand to answer questions regarding the versatility of dairy products and the excellent reasons why athletes can turn to dairy products.

MPO staff celebrated World Milk Day on 1 June with a visit to the well-known and award-winning Belnori Boutique Cheesery in Bapsfontein. Owners Norman en Rina Belcher took the staff on a tour of the farm and cheesery for an introduction on the process of cheesemaking. The teams’ knowledge of milk and cheese were put to the test in a blind tasting of different types of milk and cheese.

The staff was surprised at how simple it was to make dairy products when they got the opportunity to make their own ricotta and paneer. The biggest test of the teams’ skills was when each team had to create their own cheese platter using the array of cheese and other complementary products, supplied by the Belchers. The informative day was concluded when the staff feasted on their cheese platters.

School children were also involved in this year’s celebrations. On Tuesday 12 June, the MPO KZN held a very successful morning at Northern Park Primary School in Pietermaritzburg.

Dairy farmer Colin Wellbeloved told the learners where milk comes from and why children need dairy every day to be healthy, active and smart. The highlight of the morning was when each pupil received a handy sachet of full-cream UHT milk donated by Orange Grove Dairy.

Worldwide the value of milk and milk products as part of a healthy lifestyle was celebrated by activities such as:

• special meals with only dairy products on the menu;
• donations of dairy products to welfare organisations;
• photos and videos shared on social media of enjoying dairy products enjoyed on 1 June;
• visits to dairy farms;
• photos of photogenic dairy cows and calves; and
• sport events such as marathons where the role of milk as sports drink was emphasised.

Catch up on all the celebratory activities and photographs on social media channels using #WorldMilkDay.

For more information, contact Barbara Bieldt at 083 235 2629

END