Every hour of every day people around the world are enjoying enough dairy nutrition to fill 177 million glasses of milk – with 601,000 of these being consumed in Malaysia . Today, these glasses will be raised in recognition of the 15th annual World Milk Day.
General Manager Fonterra Brands Malaysia and Singapore, Jose Miguel Porraz-Lando said milk is playing an increasingly important role in the diets of Malaysians.
“Malaysians consumed around 1.3 billion litres of milk in 2014 – up more than 42 million litres on the year before.”
He said that local lifestyle and diet trends are driving this growth.
“Increasingly sophisticated consumers are looking for convenient, nutritious, tasty options for themselves and their families and dairy – which contains many important vitamins and minerals – is becoming an increasingly popular choice.”
Mr Porraz-Lando added that while consumption is on the rise – there’s still plenty of room for growth.
“Milk consumption in Malaysia was just under 44 litres per person in 2014 – compared to the 61 litres our Singaporean neighbours consumed.
“While we’re seeing per capita consumption growth, Malaysians are still only consuming about half a serving of dairy per day, which is well below the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines 2010 recommendation of one – three servings ,” he said.
Fonterra Brands Malaysia nutritionist Ng Min Jie said World Milk Day is a good opportunity to highlight dairy’s many benefits.
“Dairy is one of the world’s most nutritious foods. Three serves of dairy per day contributes around 80 per cent of our calcium needs; around a third of our protein needs and gives us about 30 per cent of our vitamin A requirements,” she said.
Ms Ng added that more awareness of the benefits dairy nutrition provides.
“Dairy consumption in Malaysia tends to go down as children grow with age. Dairy can play a big role in maintaining bone health, supporting growth and development and helping people meet their nutritional needs.
“It’s therefore important that people understand these benefits and are encouraged to incorporate dairy into their daily diets,” she said.
With more than 40 years in Malaysia, Fonterra is focused on unlocking and bringing the nutritional potential of milk to compliment the changing needs of Malaysia’s growing population.
“We’re committed to making sure Malaysians are getting high quality dairy nutrition. The goodness of dairy and its nutritional value cannot be underestimated and it’s great that we can recognise and reiterate its many benefits on World Milk Day,” says Mr Porraz-Lando.
As part of this year’s World Milk Day Fonterra is asking its social media followers to share their opinion about what milk means to them on https://www.facebook.com/Fonterra and #FonterraWMD.
Some interesting facts about dairy:
• Research has shown that eating cheese can help protect against dental caries. The nutrients in dairy, which are thought to contribute to this, are casein, phosphorous and calcium.
• Containing all the nine important amino acids, there is no denying that milk is an excellent source of protein. But did you know that tryptophan – one of the nine amino acids – may actually help induce sleep?
• Love spicy food but just can’t stand the burning sensation afterwards? Dairy is one of the solutions. Milk and other dairy products contain casein which can help soothe burning taste buds.
