Thousands of Children Receive Free School Milk to Celebrate FAO World School Milk Day [ndc.ie]
- Published: 06 October 2010
Over 42,000 children in some 950 primary schools throughout the Republic of Ireland will have received their school milk free today, in an initiative by National Dairy Council member co-ops to celebrate the World School Milk Day (29th September 2010) of the Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).
The National Dairy Council is encouraging more parents and teachers to engage with the school milk and dairy programme as a way of helping children to achieve their recommended dietary guideline consumption of dairy.
Nutritional Inadequacies in Irish Children
Dairy products provide an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet – and are particularly important for growing children and teenagers. Yet a considerable proportion of Irish children aged 5-12 years and Irish teenagers are known to have inadequate intake of certain nutrients such as calcium, vitamins A & D. (Refs 1, 2, 3 & 4). 42% of teenage girls and nearly one fifth (23%) of teenage boys have inadequate calcium intakes. (Ref 3)
Participating in the EU-subsidised School Milk Programme is a cost effective and easy way for parents to help children to combat this nutritional gap, as milk is a natural source of calcium and other essential nutrients, namely vitamins B12 and B2 and iodine and protein.
Full Story: www.ndc.ie
