Through its school programs, Fresh Dairy has reached some 300,000 primary school pupils with a message that adequate nutrition is key to performance.
In addition to educating Children, the best health and nutrition practices at an early age that they keep as they grow, Fresh Dairy rewards the best schools in the company’s challenge.
This time round Fresh Dairy has rewarded Murchison Bay Primary School – Luzira with a newly renovated multi-purpose hall worth 7.5 million shillings as a prize for emerging first runner up winners in the 2018 Fresh Dairy Schools Program.
Murchison Bay Primary school Scooped the prize after its pupils built an office table and chair, using 2,200 Fresh Dairy yoghurt cups which emerged the 2nd best creative model.
Handing over the prize, Fresh Dairy Marketing Manager Vincent Omoth said: “Fresh Dairy has for the past two consecutive years educated school children on nutrition with an inclination towards encouraging the consumption of 1-Yoghurt-a-Day as a healthy and nutritious snack.”
Omoth says that this year alone, since the March 15, Fresh Dairy has successfully reached at least 300,000 primary school pupils as well as teachers and parents in over 350 primary schools across Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono districts.
During these programs, all students are offered free yoghurt for sampling to further re-emphasize the 1-Yoghurt-a-Day nutrition message.
‘Yoghurt as one of the products we produce at Fresh Dairy is an ideal nutrition booster for children because it is a healthy and nutritious snack that is rich in Vitamin A, B, D, E, Calcium and Potassium Omoth said.
According to nutritionists, Yoghurt contains calcium which is the main mineral needed for the formation of strong bones.
They add that Calcium is particularly important for postmenopausal women, who have decreased bone turnover as a consequence of hormonal changes accompanying menopause.
Nutritionists encourage consumption of at least 1-Yoghurt a day to have Calcium in the body since it also increases the body’s breakdown of fat and helps preserve one’s metabolism. This in turn helps with weight management and a well-managed weight in turn reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
Receiving the prize, The Headteacher of Murchison Bay Primary School, Geoffrey Masereje applauded Fresh Dairy for honouring their commitment for delivering a renovated multi-purpose hall which the school plans to use as a hall that is partitioned into classrooms.
The Guest of Honour, Francis Demayi who represented the parents of the school thanked Fresh Dairy for the support of renovating the hall, something they had failed to do for some time because of financial constraints.
The 2nd Runner-Up of the 2018 Fresh Dairy School’s Program – Kirinya Catholic Primary School received 20 new classroom desks from Fresh Dairy while the overall winning school Mutungo Primary School will receive a newly constructed permanent nursery classroom block.
Fresh Diary promised to continue running the Fresh Dairy School Program next year in order to reach out to more schools with its health and nutritional message.
According to Uganda Dairy Development Authority, consumption of milk per person in Uganda has increased from 25 litres in 1986 to 62 litres in 2017.
Despite the increase in milk consumption, majority of Ugandans still take unprocessed milk with only 33% of the product experiencing some form of value addition. The remaining 67% is marketed raw. However the per capita annual consumption of milk in Uganda is still way below the 200 litres as recommended by the World Health Organization.
