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Dairy Council of California provides free nutrition education programs to California children and adults through teachers and health professionals. In addition, the Dairy Council of California provides a Mobile Dairy Classroom, a free outdoor assembly with a live cow. The organization also provides consumers with nutrition information through a website, HealthyEating.org.
The Dairy Council of California strives to help consumers make food choices that match individual values [1] and contribute to optimal health. Nutrition education efforts use a total diet approach inclusive of all five food groups identified in the USDA MyPlate food guidance system (grains, vegetables, fruits, milk and meat and beans). [2] [3]
Dairy Council of California currently has about 45 employees in four offices in California. The headquarters office is in Sacramento, California. In 2007-08 Dairy Council of California reached over 10 million Californians through classroom and after-school nutrition education programs, Mobile Dairy Classroom, health professional counseling and Meals Matter website. [4]
As a state government entity, Dairy Council of California is funded by California's dairy farmers and milk processors through assessments collected by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. [5]
The Dairy Council of California (formerly called California Dairy Council) was established on February 8, 1919. The organization was conceived during San Francisco Bay ferryboat commuter trips by two well-known California dairy industry leaders, Sam H. Greene and Chester Earl Gray after reading about discoveries in the field of nutrition in the early 1900s. Two articles published in Hoards Dairyman [6] specifically caught their attention, "The Present Situation in Nutrition" and "The Dairy Industry and Human Welfare" written by Dr. E.V. McCollum from the University of Wisconsin who discovered vitamin A. McCollum characterized vitamin A as a "vital life substance in dairy fat". [7]
Other significant events happening in the country at this time include the formation of the California Farm Bureau Federation and the formation of the National Dairy Council [8] in 1915. Cities around the country were experimenting with school feeding programs in the early 1900s. [9] All these events inspired Greene and Gray to bridge the link between nutrition science and dairy products that led to the formation of the non-profit organization California Dairy Council, made up of volunteer producers and distributors. They saw an opportunity to provide service for the public as well as the dairy industry. [10]
Sam H Greene was the first secretary-manager and F. J. Cummings was the first president of the newly formed California Dairy Council. Greene served as manager of the California Dairy Council for 30 years. Dairy Council's first order of business upon formation was a statewide survey of school nutrition. California Dairy Council worked with schools and teachers to survey 130,000 school children and found that on average 36% of children in cities did not receive milk on a regular basis. [11] The results of this survey were instrumental in adding milk to the school lunch menu. By 1922, California Dairy Council implemented a school milk service to nearly every major city in the state. [12] By 1950, per capita daily milk consumption increased by nearly 25 percent. [13]
The 1920s and 30s brought the California Dairy Council's first big strides in nutrition education, beginning with the "Dairy Product for Health" campaign targeting PTA parents. It was a time when many children had rickets and other nutritional deficiencies. "We gave people something of real value without expecting anything in return," said Greene of his efforts. "We did this in the firm belief that when facts about our products reached the people in the form of education, we would reap our rewards in increased use of milk and other dairy products." [14]
The Mobile Dairy Classroom began in the 1930s as a joint venture between the California Dairy Council and Venice, CA dairyman Clarence Michel of Edgemar Farms. Michel would travel weekly to Los Angeles-area schools in a truck built to accommodate a live cow and teach children how milk and dairy foods were produced. After World War II, the Dairy Council teamed with Los Angeles City Schools and hired a professional teacher to increase the program's educational impact. Ultimately, the program expanded to include 5 trucks and is available throughout most of California. [15]
In 1945, the California Dairy Council was reorganized by the California State Legislature through establishment of the California Dairy Industry Advisory Board. This newly formed board adopted the principles of California Dairy Council and began working closely with the National Dairy Council. Alfred H Ghormley served as the first chairman of the board and Richard Werner was the first manager. The California Dairy Council continued but as a sub-unit of the California Industry Advisory Board. [16]
In 1961, the California Dairy Council (Joe Hart, president) relinquished its name to the California Dairy Industry Advisory Board and the Advisory Board became the Dairy Council of California, giving it a better identification with the educational material used from the National Dairy Council. W. B Woodburn was manager and A.W. Clark was chairman of the board of the newly named Dairy Council of California. [17]
By 1963 the Dairy Council of California had grown to employ 19 staff members in five offices. The work of the Dairy Council of California expanded beyond schools to include youth clubs, banks, hospitals, medical conventions, and nursing schools. [18]
In 2007-08 year Dairy Council reached just over 2 million children with classroom programs and Mobile Dairy Classroom, and just over 3 million adults in health care settings and parent outreach in schools. [19]
Beginning in the 1960s, under the direction of Doug Fisk, Manager, the Dairy Council of California developed comprehensive two-week programs designed to promote behavior change. The Director of Education, Rus Shortridge worked with the well known teacher, Madeline Hunter from UCLA University Elementary School to develop the educational methodology behind the new programs. [20] The Madeline Hunter mastery teaching education methodology became the basis of four new Dairy Council of California programs: Little Ideas for Pre-School Children; Big Ideas Balanced Meals for Second Grade; Daily Food Choices for Fifth Grade; and Big Ideas for Consumers for high school students. [21]
Current programs [22] [23] [24] with published peer-reviewed evaluations include: Nutrition Pathfinders, [25] Exercise Your Options and, [26] MyFitness Planner. [27]
Dairy Council of California provides free resources to California teachers and qualified health and wellness providers in California. Nutrition lesson plans for each grade level [28] are developed with a behavior-change model and align to Common Core State Standards. Self-instructional booklets [29] are designed for adults to teach them about healthy eating from all five food groups. Free downloads, handouts and healthy recipes are available at HealthyEating.org. In addition, continuing education nutrition resources [30] are offered along with nutrition trends and the latest research. [31] The nutritional properties and health benefits of milk and dairy foods [32] are also outlined.
Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as yogurt, cheese, milk and butter. A facility that produces dairy products is a dairy. Dairy products are consumed worldwide to varying degrees. Some people avoid some or all dairy products because of lactose intolerance, veganism, environmental concerns, other health reasons or beliefs.
A food pyramid is a representation of the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day from each of the basic food groups. The first pyramid was published in Sweden in 1974. The 1992 pyramid introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was called the "Food Guide Pyramid" or "Eating Right Pyramid". It was updated in 2005 to "MyPyramid", and then it was replaced by "MyPlate" in 2011.
Danone S.A. is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's products are branded Dannon in the United States.
The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), co-founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon (Morell) and nutritionist Mary G. Enig, is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to "restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism".
Almond milk is a plant-based milk substitute with a watery texture and nutty flavor manufactured from almonds, although some types or brands are flavored in imitation of cow's milk. It does not contain cholesterol or lactose and is low in saturated fat. Almond milk is often consumed by those who are lactose-intolerant and others, such as vegans, who do not consume dairy products. Commercial almond milk comes in sweetened, unsweetened, vanilla and chocolate flavors, and is usually fortified with micronutrients. It can also be made at home using a blender, almonds and water.
The Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (CNA) is a United States federal law (act) signed on October 11, 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Act was created as a result of the "years of cumulative successful experience under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to help meet the nutritional needs of children." The National School Lunch Program feeds 30.5 million children per day. NSLP was operated in over 101,000 public and nonprofit private schools in 2007. The Special Milk Program, functioning since 1954, was extended to June 30, 1970 and incorporated into the act. The act also provided Federal funding assistance towards non-food purchases for school equipment.
A school meal is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world offer various kinds of school meal programs, and altogether, these are among the world's largest social safety nets. An estimated 380 million school children around the world receive meals at their respective schools. The extent of school feeding coverage varies from country to country, and as of 2020, the aggregate coverage rate worldwide is estimated to be 27%.
Plant milk is a non-dairy beverage made from a water-based plant extract for flavoring and aroma. Plant milks are consumed as alternatives to dairy milk, and may provide a creamy mouthfeel.
Food groups categorise foods for educational purposes, usually grouping together foods with similar nutritional properties or biological classifications. Food groups are often used in nutrition guides, although the number of groups used can vary widely.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a multi-unit enterprise that includes a 501(c)(6) trade association in the United States. With over 112,000 members, the association claims to be the largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. It has registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs), nutrition and dietetics technicians registered (NDTRs), and other dietetics professionals as members. Founded in 1917 as the American Dietetic Association, the organization officially changed its name to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2012. According to the group's website, about 65% of its members are RDNs, and another 2% are NDTRs. The group's primary activities include providing testimony at hearings, lobbying the United States Congress and other governmental bodies, commenting on proposed regulations, and publishing statements on various topics pertaining to food and nutrition.
Food studies is the critical examination of food and its contexts within science, art, history, society, and other fields. It is distinctive from other food-related areas of study such as nutrition, agriculture, gastronomy, and culinary arts in that it tends to look beyond the consumption, production, and aesthetic appreciation of food and tries to illuminate food as it relates to a vast number of academic fields. It is thus a field that involves and attracts philosophers, historians, scientists, literary scholars, sociologists, art historians, anthropologists, and others.
Organic milk refers to a number of milk products from livestock raised according to organic farming methods. In most jurisdictions, use of the term "organic" or equivalents like "bio" or "eco", on any product is regulated by food authorities. In general these regulations stipulate that livestock must be: allowed to graze, be fed an organically certified fodder or compound feed, not be treated with most drugs, and in general must be treated humanely.
Dairy Management Inc. is an American trade association funded primarily by the U.S. Dairy Promotion Program, itself funded by government-mandated checkoff fees on dairy products and federal tax dollars and dedicated to promoting the sale of American-made dairy products. It also operates under the names Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, American Dairy Association, National Dairy Council and U.S. Dairy Export Council.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is a federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 13, 2010. The law is part of the reauthorization of funding for child nutrition. It funded child nutrition programs and free lunch programs in schools for 5 years. In addition, the law set new nutrition standards for schools, and allocated $4.5 billion for their implementation. The new nutrition standards were a centerpiece of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to combat childhood obesity. In FY 2011, federal spending totaled $10.1 billion for the National School Lunch Program. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA, for the first time in 30 years, opportunity to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children. Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act and Michelle Obama were a step in transforming the food pyramid recommendation, which has been around since the early 1990s, into what is now known as "MyPlate".
Kathleen Manning Zelman, MPH, RD, LD, is an American nutritionist, dietitian, and communications expert who served as WebMD's director of nutrition for 17 years and is currently the owner of No Nonsense Nutrition, LLC.
Nutrition education is a combination of learning experiences designed to teach individuals or groups about the principles of a balanced diet, the importance of various nutrients, how to make healthy food choices, and how both dietary and exercise habits can affect overall well-being. It includes a combination of educational strategies, accompanied by environmental supports, designed to facilitate voluntary adoption of food choices and other nutrition-related behaviors conducive to well-being. Nutrition education is delivered through multiple venues and involves activities at the individual, community, and policy levels. Nutrition Education also critically looks at issues such as food security, food literacy, and food sustainability.
MyPlate is the current nutrition guide published by the United States Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, and serves as a recommendation based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It replaced the USDA's MyPyramid guide on June 2, 2011, ending 19 years of USDA food pyramid diagrams. MyPlate is displayed on food packaging and used in nutrition education in the United States. The graphic depicts a place setting with a plate and glass divided into five food groups that are recommended parts of a healthy diet. This dietary recommendation combines an organized amount of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. It is designed as a guideline for Americans to base their plate around in order to make educated food choices. ChooseMyPlate.gov shows individuals the variety of these five subgroups based on their activity levels and personal characteristics.
The history of USDA nutrition guidelines includes over 100 years of nutrition advice promulgated by the USDA. The guidelines have been updated over time, to adopt new scientific findings and new public health marketing techniques. The current guidelines are the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025. The 2015–2020 guidelines were criticized as not accurately representing scientific information about optimal nutrition, and as being overly influenced by the agricultural industries the USDA promotes.
In the United States, school meals are provided either at no cost or at a government-subsidized price, to students from low-income families. These free or subsidized meals have the potential to increase household food security, which can improve children's health and expand their educational opportunities. A study of a free school meal program in the United States found that providing free meals to elementary and middle school children in areas characterized by high food insecurity led to increased school discipline among the students.