Dairy Council of California’s trends tracking system is designed to identify issues early and follow their development to help the dairy community plan for the future.

That is good news for the dairy community and public health.

A significant number of kids and families don’t have adequate access to milk and other dairy foods.

For dairy processors, choosing more sustainable materials and focusing on efforts to reduce food waste are important ways to connect to consumers and customers alike.

Education, and the ability of students to learn and improve their lot in life, is part of the bedrock known as the American Dream. A growing body of evidence suggests that academic and lifelong success can be negatively impacted — not by lack of innate ability or failure to hit the books but by inadequate intake of nutritious foods.

Dairy foods are in an increasingly competitive environment where alternative beverages are vying for the attention of consumers and their grocery dollars. And while these alternative beverages may be trendy, they lack the strong nutritional portfolio of milk.

Scientists are making phenomenal progress in better understanding how food impacts health, and there is good news on dairy foods. Researchers around the world are uncovering evidence that milk and dairy foods provide an irreplaceable package of health benefits.

One association is promoting dairy foods to health care ‘gatekeepers,’ including physician assistants and nurse practitioners who work in schools, churches and drugstores.