Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP)

St. Louis Schools will Celebrate New Year with New Milk Choices

Washington, DC (December 14, 2004) — Many students in St. Louis area schools will see a change in their school milk choices when they return from their holiday break early next year. About 165,000 students at almost 300 area schools will participate in the school milk test jointly sponsored by Prairie Farms, the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) and the St. Louis Dairy Council. The test will experiment with new flavors and packaging to help increase milk consumption in schools.

The participating schools will be divided into three different groups, which will each receive a combination of enhanced packaging with colorful, kid-friendly graphics and new flavors of milk including an improved chocolate, introduction of strawberry and vanilla. Two types of improved packaging are being included in the test. The test will begin on January 3, 2005, and run through the end of the school year.

"Everyone knows that milk is a great source of calcium and other essential nutrients, but for years milk has been losing ground in schools to other beverages like soda and juice," says International Dairy Foods Association Vice President Tom Nagle. "We know that children will drink milk if it is presented in packaging and flavors that they like and this test will tell us exactly what they prefer. Then, we'll take the findings of this test and share them with other milk processors and schools to help improve school milk offerings across the country."

Specifically, the test will divide the 290 participating schools into three categories. One group will have new milk packaging and offer white, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla flavored milk. Another group will offer the same packaging and white, strawberry and chocolate flavored milk. The third group will offer white, strawberry and chocolate flavored milk, but packaging with different graphics. Finally, a fourth group of an additional 120 schools will be the control group and have no changes to their school milk offerings.

Besides the new milks, the schools will host sampling events for the students to try the different milk flavors and a "Milk Awareness Day," which will highlight the many health and nutrition benefits of milk. Additionally, school food service directors will receive tool kits to help them promote milk.

All milk is a rich source of calcium, protein, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin B12, phosphorus, riboflavin, potassium and niacin. Milk's nutrients, especially calcium, are necessary for developing strong bones and teeth. Each 8-ounce serving of milk - white or flavored - provides 300 mg of calcium, about one-third to one-fourth of the daily calcium requirement for children.

Currently, there is a teen calcium crisis in America with 90 percent of teen girls and seven out of ten teenage boys not getting enough calcium on a daily basis.

The Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), Washington, D.C., is funded by the nation's milk processors, who are committed to increasing fluid milk consumption. The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) is contracted by MilkPEP to administer processor-funded programming. For more information on the campaign, go to www.whymilk.com or www.idfa.org.

The tagline "got milk?"® was created for the California Milk Processor Board by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and is licensed by the national processor and producer groups.

The St. Louis Dairy Council, St. Louis, MO, is a 72-year old non-profit, nutrition education organization committed to providing credible, up-to-date research and dairy nutrition information. It serves almost 7 million people in 131 counties within Missouri and Illinois, including consumers, health professionals, educators and members of the media. For more information, go to www.stldairycouncil.org

Since 1938, Prairie Farms has been recognized throughout the Midwest for its high quality dairy products. Prairie Farms has built its reputation on high quality, good service and reliability. For more information, go to www.prairiefarms.com.