Re: OT: Schools Replace Milk Cartons w/Bottles: easier for kids to open& fit better in their hands

[Guest guest]

Personally, Robbie finds it much easier to open the carton than bottled milk -

but I guess I can see it being easier for most kids to open. I had to smile at

the comment about Mcs and 's offering milk now in bottles and the

increase in sales - what they fail to mention is the fact that the marketing on

the " new " healthier choices (fruit instead of fries, milk instead of soda) has

been through the roof - and pictures of the " new " choices have been all over the

menu. I think that awareness, not the fact that the milk is in the bottle has

raised the sales. We have always asked for milk instead of soda at fast food

places, unless they have pink lemonade, which is one of Robbie's favorites -

though he often chooses milk instead.

Val

Rob's Mom (7,systemic)

In a message dated 12/31/2004 3:22:09 PM Eastern Standard Time, Georgina

<gmckin@...> writes:

>

>Schools Replace Milk Cartons With Bottles

>December 28, 2004

>http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC251/333/8895/405717.html?d=dmtICNNews

>

>(By The Associated Press) -- Yet another familiar school-days object may

>be going the way of the inkwell and the slide rule. Encouraged by a milk

>industry study that shows children drink more dairy when it comes in

>round plastic bottles, a growing number of schools are ditching those

>clumsy paper half-pint cartons many of us grew up with.

>

>Already more than 1,250 schools have switched to single-serving bottles.

>While that is still a tiny fraction of the nation's schools, it is a

>significant jump from 2000, when there were none, according to the

>National Dairy Council.

>

> " Those damn square containers are awfully hard for kids, " says New

>Hampshire Agriculture Commissioner Steve , who has watched the

>trend spread to some 320 schools in New England. " Teachers say you can

>spend the whole lunch period just walking around and opening those

>containers. "

>

>Though plastic long has been the favored packaging for soda and other

>drinks, schools sought bottled milk only after a 2002 Dairy Council

>study found milk consumption increased 18 percent in schools that tested

>bottles. The study also found that children who drank bottled milk

>finished more of it.

>

>The change to plastic brings schools closer to overall milk packaging

>trends. In 2001, more than 82 percent of the nation's milk was packaged

>in plastic, up from 15 percent in 1971, according to the U.S. Department

>of Agriculture.

>

>While the growing use of bottles in schools can partly be attributed to

>ease --educators say plastic caps are easier for children to open, and

>round bottles fit better in their hands -- marketing savvy deserves at

>least as much credit.

>

>Several years ago the milk industry decided its boxes were not visually

>competitive when sold alongside the relatively sexy bottles of juice and

>soda increasingly common in schools.

>

>Now, many schools display the bottles in glass-front upright coolers --

>just like at the convenience store -- and obesity concerns have prompted

>schools around the nation to oust soda machines in favor of milk vending

>machines.

>

>Fast-food chains 's and Mc's recently replaced their milk

>cartons with bottles and sales soared.

>

>Bottles also could be a financial boon for school lunch programs, which

>depend on meal sales to stay afloat.

>

>Though bottled milk costs schools more, Grant Prentice, executive vice

>president of marketing for the Dairy Council, says high schools that

>served it during the study saw lunch program participation increase

>nearly 5 percent. And by some accounts the study underestimated the

>growth potential.

>

>Jeanette Kimbell, food service director for schools in Nashua, N.H.,

>tried bottled milk at the city's three middle schools last year after

>earlier efforts -- including offering milkshakes -- had failed to get

>children to drink more milk.

>

>Now the district's 3,300 middle school children are drinking 10 percent

>more, and they are telling Kimbell bottled milk tastes better. And lunch

>program participation is up between 8 percent and 18 percent at each of

>the schools.

>

>Because of the rise in lunch sales, the 11 cents more per serving paid

>for bottles is not passed on to the children, Kimbell says.

>

>The milk industry is also likely to benefit. Americans have been

>drinking less and less milk since the 1970s; dairy officials hope

>reversing that trend among children will result in a lifetime of

>drinking more milk.

>

>There also is potential hidden growth for the $11 billion milk industry.

>School children consumed 5.3 billion half-pint servings of milk 2002.

>But many of the new bottles hold 10 ounces, or 2 ounces more than a

>half-pint.

>

>For dairy processors, changing over to plastic can be costly.

>

>Bruce Matson, spokesman for the land and Virginia Milk Producers

>ative based in Reston, Va., says his company invested more than $1

>million about four years ago to change a third of its bottling business

>to plastic.

>

>So far it has been worth it. Matson says schools that made the switch

>now are buying 20 percent more milk.

>

>Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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