The National Dairy Council (NDC) has welcomed the European Commission’s announcement that it is to support a three-year co-funded information and promotion campaign for cheese and cheese culture, ahead of the expansion of the dairy sector’s post quota abolition next April. Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney TD said the new marketing programme will help alleviate market pressures arising from the Russian trade ban.
NDC chief executive Zoë Kavanagh (right) says the programme will help showcase cheese as a tasty and nutritional food part of a balanced diet. The EU programme will be co-funded by the dairy industry, generating a total budget of almost €5 million in four countries over three years from 2015, with €720,328 allocated to promoting cheese in Ireland. Cheeses contribute nine per cent of calcium intake among Irish adults aged 18-64.
Also, cheeses contribute nine and eight per cent to the mean daily intake of calcium in the diet of Irish teenage girls and boys, aged 13-17 years respectively.
