World Milk Day
Milk is an important part of a healthy balanced diet and annual World Milk Day provides the perfect opportunity to spread the word.
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On 1 June every year, World Milk Day celebrates dairy’s vital role in global food systems, providing economic, nutritional, and social benefits to a large proportion of the world’s population. IDF and its members work together to convey this message to the public by promoting activities taking place on and around this day.
World Milk Day history
World Milk Day was introduced in 2001 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) to recognize the importance of milk as a global food, and to celebrate the dairy sector. Each year since, the benefits of milk and dairy products have been actively promoted around the world, including how dairy supports the livelihoods of one billion people.
All aspects of milk and dairy are celebrated on annual World Milk Day, including their benefits with regards to health and nutrition, affordability and accessibility, and the sector’s passion and commitment to feeding our communities.
Celebrations on 1 June are global and marked in many countries all over the world, with the number of countries and activities are increasing every year, providing an opportunity for everyone involved in the sector to participate.
World Milk Day activities
The annual event is an opportunity to celebrate all things dairy. For example, activities around the world have included:
- Milking demonstrations and farm visits
- Games, competitions, and concerts
- Distribution of milk products, and
- conferences, seminars and information sharing
All are aimed at sharing information on the value of milk and illustrating the important role the dairy sector plays in communities, national economies and cultural aspects of societies.
This year’s theme focussed on celebrating the vital role dairy plays in delivering quality nutrition to nourish the world. Dairy is an accessible, affordable, and nutrient-dense food, and it is an essential part of balanced diets across the globe.
A global success!
Thanks to IDF experts around the world for your tremendous support, which helped make it the biggest celebration yet.
Find out soon how our member countries are celebrated in 2024
Canada celebrated World Milk Day by sharing a photo of their cow, Delicious, and she’s one of 150 milking cows on their family dairy in Chilliwack, BC, Canada.
Chile celebrated World Milk Day, by sharing videos of them on the farm.
India celebrated world milk day by sending photos of raising a glass to milk
Sweden celebrated World Milk Day, by sharing some inspiring photos at the dairy farm.
Switzerland celebrated world milk day by sharing themselves at the farm and photos of dairy production.
New Zealand celebrated World Milk Day by sharing a photo of the team at the Sustainable Nutrition Initiative. The Sustainable Nutrition Initiative® is a research programme of the Riddet Institute, hosted at Massey University in New Zealand. Their passionate scientists research sustainable nutrition across global, national and individual scales and have done work into the role dairy plays in their current food systems and for future nutrition scenarios.
World Milk Day 2021
On 1 June 2021, IDF recognised World Milk Day with an online celebration for its global experts.
The overarching theme for 2021 was sustainability, and the substantial efforts the global dairy sector is taking to reduce carbon footprint, while still maintaining a focus on the benefits of dairy with regards to health and nutrition, affordability and accessibility, and the sector’s passion and commitment for feeding the world’s communities.
As COVID-19 continued to restrict movement of people around the globe, creative solutions were required to celebrate this important anniversary. IDF hosted a virtual ’Raise a glass’ event at its annual General Assembly which brought together representatives of the dairy sector from around the globe.
IDF also shared a series of dairy farm case studies, examples of on-farm practices to improve carbon footprint and enhance sustainability: World Milk Day 2021 focuses on dairy sustainability
Dairy is a vital part of global food systems, providing economic, nutritional & social benefits to many people around the world
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