In their national survey on school milk, Prof Hannes Weindlmaier and Dr Tamara Fallscheer of the Technical University of Munich were able to prove that school milk had a favourable image. The majority of the 1,860 pupils interviewed said they were well-informed on the value of milk for their health, characterising milk as "natural", "healthy", "athletic" and "refreshing". Many drink, or eat, milk or milk products (such as yoghurt) at home and elsewhere. Around 77 percent of respondents considered the offering of school milk drinks to be satisfactory. The older the children, however, the more they preferred to drink other refreshments – for one thing because they were "cool" and "fashionable", and for another because many extended elementary and secondary schools no longer ordered school milk, given that consumption had declined and that attempts to maintain supplies had not proven successful in the long-run. The reasons for this vary:
- Janitor positions are being cut back or left unfilled
- Packaging taxes have made carton milk too expensive for schools and returnable packaging means more work
- Insufficient knowledge, insufficient cold-storage facilities.
There are plans afoot, however, to re-establish the status of school milk and to make use of its good image as a means of encouraging school children to take more advantage of the dairy products available at school.
Initial endeavours to give support to students undertaking to install self-run "school cafes" have proven to be a promising move. Support has also been forthcoming for projects to establish "Internet cafes", which serve milk and dairy products as part of their menu – the response to which has been enthusiastic. We will continue to proceed along this path of encouraging adolescents (in a target-group-oriented way) to maintain a balanced diet.
