EU puts milk at heart of fight against childhood obesity

A new EU initiative to promote milk and fresh produce to school children will bolster the School Milk scheme and put milk at the heart of the struggle against obesity, Dairy UK said today.

Following yesterday’s announcement from EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel that the "Eat it, drink it, move it" Roadshow would be crossing the Channel, Dairy UK Director General Jim Begg said: "The Commissioner has quite rightly put milk at the core of Europe’s fight against childhood obesity.

"She recognises that School Milk schemes play an important role in teaching children about the merits of a balanced diet. Dairy UK is working very closely with Defra and DairyCo to ensure that the small amount of funding available for the School Milk scheme in this country is spent in the best possible way.

"We have long wanted to switch the government ’top up’ from a thin subsidy into a more powerful promotion for the scheme. This is absolutely in line with the Commission’s objectives of getting a message on healthy diets across to kids, and has the backing of key stakeholders.

"Dairy UK has also been leading efforts to get cheese brought into the UK scheme, as per EU guidelines. We now look forward to working alongside the European Commission as it launches its Healthy Eating Campaign."