School Milk 
The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA's) recommends three daily servings of low-fat or fat-free milk, cheese or yogurt and calls out the Milk Group as a "Food Group to Encourage" – along with fruits/vegetables and whole grains. Milk is a complete nutrient package with nine essential nutrients and supplies three of the five nutrients the DGA's identifies as low in children's diets: calcium, magnesium and potassium.
However, more than half of children ages 2-8 and three-quarters of children ages 9-19 do not get the recommended daily servings of low-fat or fat-free milk or milk products.
The New Look of School Milk helps make milk "cool to drink," and turns it into an appealing option that students choose and consume. Browse through a few of the resources below:
New Look of School Milk (NLSM) - description
Flavored Milk
Cold Milk - Strive for 35° F
Vending
Recycling
Financial Calculator - can we afford New Look of School Milk?
LISN awards
The New Look of School Milk
The New Look of School Milk features ice-cold milk served in a variety of flavors, in kid-friendly, plastic packaging, on the meal line. School nutrition directors at these schools report sustained success, with better student nutrition and stronger meal participation. Find out all the New Look of School Milk details.
Flavored Milk
Children prefer flavored milk to white milk. And, flavored milk offers the same nutrient profile as unflavored milk. Plus children who drink flavored milk don't have higher intakes of added sugars or total fats than those who don't. Check out the the flavored milk facts.
Cold Milk - Strive for 350 F
With nine essential nutrients, milk is one of the most nutrient-rich beverages children can choose. So it makes sense to make it as appealing as possible — and children like it best when it's served ice-cold, between 35° and 40°F. Here are details on keeping milk cold.
Vending
Milk Vending plays an important role in the New Look of School Milk enhanced milk program and in reaching the goals of your wellness policy. To get the maximum benefit, ice-cold milk should be served throughout the school, anytime of day — and what better way to do that, then with Milk Vending.
Recycling
New Look of School Milk plastic bottles are recyclable and can reduce trash 20%-30%! Learn how to set up a recycling program, click here
New Look School Milk - Financial Calculator
Often school nutrition programs want to offer the New Look of School Milk to their students but are concerned about the increased costs of an enhanced milk program. Many school nutrition professionals have found that the New Look of School Milk pays for itself through increased milk sales and increased meal participation and federal reimbursements.
Now there's an easy-to-use New Look of School Milk Financial Calculator tool to help you see how this enhanced milk program can work for you. Click here for the Calculator.
Leadership in School Nutrition Awards (LISN)
The Leadership in School Nutrition (LISN) Award acknowledges and promotes positive partnerships between dairy processors and schools through innovations in milk programming using kid-appealing plastic packaging, nationally known as the New Look of School Milk.
Teams of school districts and dairy processors win the annual award. The first-place winning team receives a check for $5,000 each to be used toward future school nutrition efforts; one second-place winning team receives checks for $2,000 each; and one third-place winning team receives checks for $1,000 each. Winners are chosen by judges with expertise in child nutrition and the dairy, beverage and food industries.
The 2007 LISN Award winners are:
- First-place winner: Dairymens Milk & Ice Cream Co., Cleveland, and Strongsville City Schools, Strongsville, Ohio.
- First runner-up: Mayfield Dairy Farms, Athens, Tenn., and Marietta City Schools, Marietta, Ga.
- Second runner-up: Roberts Dairy Co., Omaha, Neb., and Omaha Public Schools, Omaha, Neb.
Now is the perfect time for school districts and dairy processors to team up and begin innovative programming with the New Look of School Milk.
Schools involved in the New Look of School Milk program report sustained success with increased milk sales, better student nutrition and increased meal participation.
Stay tuned for 2008 awards application and awards.
Find out more about the 2007 winners (download pdf 1.22 MB)
Milk Fact Sheet
Learn about the benefits of drinking milk, including getting many important nutrients including calcium, which is abundant in milk, cheese and yogurt.
Milk...More Bang for your Buck!
Milk is loaded with NUTRIENTS and is one of the best VALUES in the supermarket!