Lactose-Free Milk Meeting Unmet Demand in Schools

We talk a lot about “unmet demand” as a checkoff.

This is the ability to provide people with the dairy products how, when and where they want them.

It’s hard to believe that students across the U.S. who struggle with real or perceived lactose intolerance have been unable to choose a milk that fits their needs in the school cafeteria.

Make no mistake – lactose-free milk is popular. In fact, it’s been a bright spot in the overall fluid milk category at retail. National lactose-free milk volume is up 11.4 percent through April 14 compared to the same period of 2023.

Lactose-free milk can be found in more than 98% of retail outlets with major brands producing private label options. Yet, try finding it in a school cafeteria in our country. We see too many kids walking past the milk cooler and choosing options that better suit their needs.

We’re hopeful that the results of a recent checkoff-led pilot can begin to change the game. National Dairy Council (NDC) and American Dairy Association Mideast worked with Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) to offer the country’s first single-serve lactose-free chocolate milk package to six elementary and four high schools in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Because of the program’s success, CPS opted to expand it to all 15 Cincinnati high schools through the remainder of this school year. It should be noted that 71 percent of the 35,000 students in the CPS system are African American or Hispanic/Latino, population segments that have lower milk consumption rates. But CPS school nutrition officials saw two very encouraging signs when they compared results from the pilot schools with those that were not part of the study.

When students have the option of choosing lactose-free milk, both milk selection and meal participation increase overall. When compared to the rest of the Cincinnati district, the pilot schools experienced a 16-percent increase in milk consumption and 7-percent higher meal participation.

The survey results also showed that 80% of younger students indicated they “liked” or “loved” the chocolate lactose-free milk. Nearly half indicated they would drink more milk if lactose-free chocolate options were available.

Numbers aside, it’s very satisfying to hear cafeteria anecdotes. Students have said the lactose-free milk is just like what they get at home. School foodservice staff have said not only are more kids taking lactose-free chocolate milk, but they’re also finishing it. Food waste, including milk, has been a longtime challenge for cafeteria staff but more and more of the milk cartons in this pilot come back empty.

And we’re also seeing students in their high school years choosing milk. This has been an age range when kids start to drift away from the category, but they are finding appeal in the lactose-free chocolate offering.

NDC and CPS are helping to spread the word broadly by presenting the pilot’s results during a June webinar hosted by the School Nutrition Association. This group represents more than 50,000 professionals dedicated to helping kids get nutritious and affordable meals every day at school.

This pilot builds a strong business case to demonstrate what is possible for school milk. Not only have we shown we can we help drive sales today, but we can help capture the interest of students who down the road will be the ones making purchase decisions for their families.

This program is making it possible to give everyone, regardless of their health needs, demographic or socioeconomic status, an opportunity to consume milk and the benefits of its 13 essential nutrients.

We’re meeting unmet demand, one school milk offering at a time.

To learn more about your national dairy checkoff, visit www.USDairy.com/forfarmers or to reach us directly, send an email to TalkToTheCheckoff@dairy.org.