National Dairy Week Gets Off To A Smiling Start

Britains farmers, shoppers and politicians have given a big thumbs up to dairy at the start of National Dairy Week, which begins today.

Tens of thousands of people who have milk delivered to their doors have put their support behind their milkman and the dairy industry over recent months. And thousands of dairy farmers will be slapping on special National Dairy Week bumper stickers to make their feelings clear.

And to get the National Dairy Week celebrations off to a sparkling start, TV presenter Julia Bradbury turned into the Dairy Fairy yesterday. Beaming Bradbury is the face of The Dairy Councils nationwide Smile for Dairy Campaign, which sees people across Britain urged to submit pictures of themselves smiling to smile@smilefordairy.com to demonstrate their love of dairy products.

Jim Begg, Dairy UK Director General said: National Dairy Week is our opportunity to highlight the hard work of dairy farmers and processors up and down the country who supply everyones favourite dairy products.

Its been especially tough this winter with the widespread snow and ice, but that hasnt stopped the nation getting its hands on the milk, cheese, yogurt and other dairy foods that we all take for granted.

In fact, dairy products can play an important role in a healthy, balanced diet and appear in the fridges of 97% of British households. This helps support an industry worth more than 8bn per year and employing 80,000 people directly.

National Dairy Week is organised by The Dairy Council and Dairy UK, and aims to celebrate and raise the profile of the dairy industry and the high quality, delicious foods it makes. In 2010, National Dairy Week is focusing on the nutritional importance of dairy, its role in the diet and on the innovativeness of UK processors and farmers.