(WANE) In case you didn’t know, World Milk Day became a thing in 2001 when the United Nations selected June 1 for the designation as a way to celebrate the essential contributions of the dairy sector to sustainability, economic development, livelihoods, and nutrition.
While milk consumption in the United States has been declining over the past several decades, the latest data from the the U.S. Department of Agriculture compiled in 2021 shows the per capita consumption of milk to be about 15.75 gallons a person. That’s down from just over 29 gallons a person in 1975.
Whole milk continues to be the favorite choice of drinkers, followed by 2%, 1% and skim; in that order. The decline in consumption can be attributed to several factors, including the proliferation of competing products such as oat, almond, soy and other varieties of plant based milks. Also, eating habits have changed and cereal and milk no longer dominate the morning breakfast ritual as they once did.
So where does milk rank as a beverage in popularity? The website Eat This, Not That! compiled this list that has milk coming in at number 5:
- Bottled Water
- Carbonated Soft Drinks
- Coffee
- Beer/Cider
- Milk
- Tea
- Fruit Beverage
- Sports Drinks
- Wine
- Energy Drinks
Even though Wisconsin touts itself as “America’s Dairyland,” California is the biggest milk producing state.
So now that you’ve gotten this far, how about telling us if you even drink milk?
