Through its Food for Development Office (FfDO), Tetra Pak works in close partnership with governments, development agencies, NGOs, local dairies and farmers to deliver almost six billion packages of milk to 50 million children in schools in over 50 countries around the world.
The total number of milk and other nutritious drinks supplied in Tetra Pak packages to school feeding programmes worldwide rose from 5.1 billion in 2007 to 5.7 billion in 2008 – a 10% increase. Volumes supplied to countries rose by 22% during this period, from 2.3 billion to 2.8 billion.
“It’s encouraging to see how governments, local business and NGOs value the importance of school milk programmes and are continuing to support programme growth,” said Tetra Pak Food for Development Office global director, Ulla Holm. “School feeding programmes can have a considerable impact on the local community and economy. Not only do they improve the health and learning capabilities of children, they often act as a catalyst for agricultural and economic development.”
The new school milk programme in Ecuador, launched in June 2009, provides enriched UHT milk to 120,000 children in the cities of Guayaquil and Quito. Tetra Pak provides technical support to the programme funded by the government and managed by the Ministry of Education’s Programa de Alimentación Escolar by sharing its expertise in such areas as logistics, product handling and storage.
The Moroccan initiative, managed by Fondation de Centrale Laitière pour la nutrition de l’enfant, a non-profit organisation set up by the dairy Centrale Laitière, is focused on two regions, targeting nearly 4,000 students in 37 primary schools with fortified milk. The long-term goal is to extend and scale up the programme throughout the country.
The Romanian school milk programme has grown dramatically since its inception in 2002. From reaching one million schoolchildren in its first year, the programme now includes schoolchildren up to the age of 15 years and reaches more than 2.6 million children throughout the country.
The school milk programme in Thailand, which began in 1985, is one of the longest running and most successful of it kind. In 2008, Tetra Pak in cooperation with its partners supplied 1.8 million children with more than 460 million packages of milk – 100 million packages more than the previous year.
“School milk programmes play a vital part in our business strategy and our commitment to dairy customers around the world to make food safe and available everywhere,” added Holm. “We expect to see further expansion of these programmes in the coming years.”
Source: Tetra Pak
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