Influencing factors on school milk consumption in Germany

Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: July 06, 2015 | Revision accepted: June 01, 2016

Findings from the accompanying research for the “Focus on School Milk” pilot project

Introduction

The demand for school milk has fallen steadily over the last 20 years. Four studies carried out at the Max Rubner-Institute in 2008 and 2009 considered which factors had a favourable or detrimental effect on demand. Only partial findings from two studies have been published to 2016 date [1, 2]; the findings from one of these studies relate exclusively to North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). More recent studies with further findings on the factors determining school milk consumption in Germany have not been identified.

Starting situation

Background

The Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) (Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture) announced that sales of school milk in Germany have fallen steadily since 1993. In 1993 the total amount of milk sold was 130,223 tonnes (t), yet by the academic year of 2008/2009 it had fallen to 36,746 tonnes. 28,133 tonnes were sold in the academic year of 2013/2014; this corresponds to a decrease of more than 78% since 1993 [7]. As a result of falling sales, the Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz (BMELV) (Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection) and the Ministerium für Umwelt und Naturschutz, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz (MUNLV) (Ministry for Environment and Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection) in NRW agreed to the coalition initiative submitted in March 2007 to develop a pilot project to provide school milk in primary schools as part of the “Gesunde Schulverpflegung” (Healthy School Catering) initiative [8]. This project aimed to provide basic data for use in developing possible solutions to improve school milk distribution as part of a healthy diet in future school milk policies.

Summary

A number of studies were carried out to identify the influencing factors and their relative importance on the demand for school milk; these studies used different quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was gathered from directly concerned parties such as pupils, parents, teachers, head teachers and caretakers in North Rhine-Westphalia via written surveys and in other federal states via face-to-face interviews. Factors influencing the demand for school milk and its consumption include pupils’ wishes, which were also based on their taste preferences, product characteristics, the nature of the offer and the organisational procedures in schools. Existing attitudes, the commitment of parties involved, information and the level of participation among parties also had an effect on the demand for school milk products. The price played an important role among low-income families, but was otherwise not a significant reason for not ordering school milk.

Keywords: school milk, milk, demand, school milk programme 

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References