US industry group battles to salvage milk’s reputation
Print Edition
As Americans continue turning away from milk, a dairy industry group is pushing back at its critics with a social media campaign trumpeting its benefits. The association says it needs to act because attitudes about milk are deteriorating, with vegan groups, non-dairy competitors and other perceived enemies getting louder.
Julia Kadison, CEO of the Milk Processor Education Program, which represents milk companies, says the breaking point came last year when the British Medical Journal published a study suggesting drinking lots of milk could lead to earlier deaths and higher incidents of fractures. Even though the study urged a cautious interpretation of its findings, it prompted a wave of posts online about the dangers of drinking milk.
“I said, ‘That’s enough.’ We can’t have these headlines that ‘Milk Can Kill You’ and not stand up for the truth,” Kadison said in a phone interview.
On Tuesday, the “Get Real” social media campaign will be announced at a dairy industry gathering in Boca Raton, Florida, in conjunction with the National Dairy Council and Dairy Management Inc., which represents dairy farmers. The campaign is intended to drown out milk’s detractors with positive posts on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere about the nutritional benefits of milk. Milk brands, their employees and others in the industry will post the messages and direct people to a website where they can get more information.Online ads will also tout the superiority of dairy milk over almond milk, which is surging in popularity.
The campaign comes as milk’s dominance in American homes continues to wane amid proliferating beverage options. According to data from the US Department of Agriculture, people drank an average of 14.5 gallons (55 liters) of milk a year in 2012. That’s down 33 percent from the 21.8 gallons (82.5 liters) a year in 1970.
Non-dairy alternatives are chipping away at milk’s dominance. While soy milk’s use has faded, retail sales for almond milk are estimated to be up 39 percent last year, says Virginia Lee, a packaged food analyst with market researcher Euromonitor International.
Meanwhile, the USDA recommends adults get three cups of dairy a day, including options like fat-free, low-fat milk or calcium-fortified soy milk. And the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which represents nutrition professionals, is supporting the Get Real campaign and its push to underscore “the decades of research reinforcing low-fat milk as one of the most nutrient-rich beverages available.”
But milk’s wholesome image is being muddied by diet trends and new attitudes about nutrition. Many who follow the popular Paleo diet, for instance, shun dairy because people didn’t drink it during the Stone Age.
Animal welfare groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, on its website, notes that “no species drinks milk beyond infancy or drinks the milk of another species” and details the cruel conditions dairy cows are often subject to.
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