19th World Milk Day: Significance, theme and events in 2019

World Milk Day is a day established by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food. It has been observed on June 1 each year since 2001.

The Day provides an opportunity to focus attention on milk and to publicise activities connected with milk and the milk industry. The fact that many countries choose to do this on the same day lends additional importance to individual national celebrations and shows that milk is a global food.

While most countries hold their celebrations on 1st June, some choose to hold them a week or so before or after this date.

Happy #WorldMilkDay! Get involved and raise a glass to celebrate the hard work and dedication of our dairy farmers who work all year round to produce healthy, nutritious and delicious milk for consumers across the globe! 🌎 🥛 #EnjoyDairy #WorldMilkDay pic.twitter.com/xpVXYPEjeT

— WFO (@worldfarmersorg) June 1, 2019

World Milk Day aims to celebrate the important contributions of the dairy sector to:

• Good food, health, and nutrition
• Farmers caring responsibly for their communities, the land, and their animals
• How dairy contributes to economic development and livelihoods 

Last year World Milk Day was an incredible success taking place over 42 hours around the world with 586 events in 72 countries.

The day started on June 1st with dairy farmers raising their glass of milk at sunrise in New Zealand and ended with the sunset in Hawaii.