This year’s edition of the Luxembourg Milk Week is taking place from 7-13 December 2017.
The goal of the Milk Week, now in its third edition, is to make children aware of the source of their food from an early age and to promote awareness of the benefits of a healthy and balanced diet. During this week, over fifty dairy farms will open their doors to allow 1,500 primary school pupils to discover the world of dairy production and get an overview of the daily work of dairy farmers in Luxembourg.
It is indeed essential for the minister to show the children the origin and the mode of production of the food they consume daily.
As in previous years, the event has been organised by the Rural Economy Service along with organisations Lëtzebuerger Landjugend & Jongbaueren, Youth Service - Lëtzebuerger Bauerejugend and the Association for the Promotion of Education in Farms (APFAPL).
In addition to the launch of the Milk Week, the Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection also presented the novelties of the European School Fruit, Vegetables and Milk Programme which has been in effect since the start of the school year 2017/2018.
Indeed, during the Luxembourg presidency in 2015, under the supervision of the Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection, Fernand Etgen, the European programmes for the distribution of milk and fruit and vegetables to schools were merged and provided with additional financial means to support the distribution of these products, for instance during Milk Week.
The free distribution of fruit and vegetables in schools will now also be accompanied by fruit farm visits in collaboration with the Letzebuerger Uebstbauveräin, in order to introduce students to local fruit production methods. Another novelty of this reform has been the free distribution of milk in primary schools. As in previous years, distribution is at a reduced price in secondary schools.
