Dairy Management Inc. is an American

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

funded primarily by the U.S. Dairy Promotion Program, itself funded by government-mandated checkoff fees on

dairy product Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...

s and federal tax dollars and dedicated to promoting the sale of American-made dairy products. It also operates under the names Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, ''National Dairy Council'' and American Dairy Association as well as ''U.S. Dairy Export Council''. The USDA regulates DMI's promotion of milk in the domestic market, but does not fund it directly.

History

The forerunner of Dairy Management Inc. was the ''National Dairy Council'' founded in 1915 by dairy farmers and processors when a

foot-and-mouth disease Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) or hoof-and-mouth disease (HMD) is an infectious disease, infectious and sometimes fatal virus (biology), viral disease that primarily affects even-toed ungulates, including domestic and wild Bovidae, bovids. The vir ...

outbreak threatened their image. In 1940, farmers had founded the ''American Dairy Association'' (forerunner: the Dairymen’s Union of California, founded in 1891) to promote U.S. milk products to consumers through advertising. They merged it with the National Dairy Council in 1970. In 1983, the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board was created through Congress. In 1995, Dairy Management Inc. was incorporated as a

nonprofit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation ma ...

by members of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board and the United Dairy Industry Association. In 1995, DMI created the ''U.S. Dairy Export Council''. DMI has been called a marketing creation of the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production ...

As of 2011, it was mainly funded by Dairy Promotion Program government-mandated fees on dairy products; the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates DMI's promotion of milk in the domestic market, and does not fund it directly, but USDA funds the U.S. Dairy Export Council for overseas promotion. In 2010, the corporation had 162 employees and a budget of about $140 million, 5 of which came from the USDA. In 2021, Dairy Management Inc. was headed by CEO Barbara O'Brian after long time leader Tom Gallagher retired from the post.

Activities

Dairy Management is associated with the "

Got Milk? Got Milk? (often stylized as got milk?) is an American advertising campaign on television and YouTube encouraging the consumption of milk and dairy products. Created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Mi ...

" and "Real Seal" campaigns and works with industry to develop products that increase consumption of milk and cheese. It also funds research into the benefits of dairy consumption. Dairy Management has successfully promoted increased use of cheese in prepared food products such as

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

. The DMI website offers educational materials such as dietary guidelines,

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

, maintaining a healthy weight,

lactose intolerance Lactose intolerance is caused by a lessened ability or a complete inability to digest lactose, a sugar found in dairy products. Humans vary in the amount of lactose they can tolerate before symptoms develop. Symptoms may include abdominal pain ...

, and the connection between

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

. They provide information kits to

health care professionals Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, pain ...

. DMI has funded academic research into the impacts of dairy, many of which show the positive impacts of dairy such as

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a simi ...

and human health. DMI has funded new product competitions, such as the ''10th Annual National Dairy Council (NDC) New Product Competition'' which in 2022 held the theme of "Innovative Dairy-Based Products for Gamers". Starting in 2009, it placed two dairy scientists at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

to incorporate more dairy into the menu. In 2022, DMI partnered with

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

. They launched a frozen drink consisting of dairy with

Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew in some countries and colloquially known as Dew in some areas, is a soft drink brand owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage Bottler (company), bottlers Barney and A ...

and created "a burrito with ten times the cheese of a typical taco". In 2023, DMI started a public relations campaign to promote butter.

Criticism

In 2010, the milk-promotion initiative was criticized by

Walter Willett Walter C. Willett (born June 20, 1945) is an American physician and nutrition researcher. He is the Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and was the chair of its department of nutrit ...

, chairman of the

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

department at the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

and a former member of the federal government's nutrition advisory committee, as being contradictory to the nutrition goal of reducing consumption of

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone, and fatty acids that each cont ...

also promoted by the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. In 2014, Michele Simon exposed in a report how dairy industry and UDDA promoted

junk food "Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calorie#Nutrition, calories from macronutrients such as sugar and fat, and often also high in sodium, making it hyperpalatable, and low in dietary fiber, Protein (nutrient), protein, or m ...

in the name of health. In 2024,

Grist Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb ''grind.'' Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on h ...

reported that marketing efforts have been successful at increasing dairy consumption, primarily in the form of dairy products, such as cheese and butter. However, fluid milk consumption has been in decline since the 1970's. Animal products, including dairy products, have a high

environmental footprint The ecological footprint measures human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people and their economies. It tracks human demand on nature through an ecological accounting system. The accounts contrast the biolo ...

References

External links

Dairy Management Inc.
Official website {{Authority control Commodity checkoff programs American dairy organizations Organizations based in Illinois Organizations established in 1995 1995 establishments in the United States

History

Activities

Criticism

See also

References

External links