Stirring Up Excitement: UDIM Brings Dairy Innovation to School Kitchens

From iced lattes to chef-led trainings and dairy-forward recipes, the dairy checkoff partners with schools to spotlight nutritious, flavorful and fun options students love. 

OKEMOS, Mich. [July 31, 2025] – As times change, so do the methods United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) uses to connect with school foodservice professionals about the goodness and functionality of dairy foods. What doesn’t change? The valuable nutrition dairy delivers to the next generation of consumers. 

“We are partnering with schools in so many different ways,” says Brianna Henton, UDIM Health and Wellness Director. “From sharing more menu options featuring dairy to helping staff boost their culinary skill sets, we’re working on numerous opportunities in new and nontraditional approaches. It’s really exciting.”  

For instance, UDIM: 

• Plans strategic visits to school districts, sampling delicious, dairy-forward iced lattes to high school students and teaching foodservice staff how to incorporate these student-approved tasty drinks into their menus.  
• Partners with K-12 culinary consultant Chef Jenn Brower to elevate school staff kitchen skills, showing how to feature dairy in ways students crave.  
• Provides new recipes and menus to offer students healthier choices including dairy. 
• Seeks ways to help students who alter their eating habits due to religious holidays maintain their nutritional balance.  

Honing skills and menus 

It all starts with an idea. “If schools can start incorporating more recipes that involve yogurt as a substitute, now they’ve done a healthy thing, and they’ve also gotten some of that good dairy back into a recipe,” says Chef Jenn Brower, K-12 culinary consultant and owner of Chef-n-More, LLC, who has been working with K-12 school foodservice staff to help hone their skills. 

“It’s also about featuring different sauces that coordinate with recipes, instead of always making the focus on a main dish, and helping foodservice directors understand how to do this successfully,” she adds. “For example, serve a tzatziki sauce that goes with falafel on days you’re featuring a culturally diverse menu. You’ve now ramped up your dairy with a very simple recipe.” 

This approach has paid dividends for participating school systems. 

“We’re helping schools invest in their own programs and staff,” says Henton. “Not only did the trainings with Chef Jenn help increase participation in the school meals program, resulting in more enjoyment of dairy foods and milk by students, but the schools also adapted menus to provide students flavorful options they crave.” 

One parent with a child enrolled at a participating school asked who they could talk to about the new meals being served by the school this year. “It has been fantastic!” 

During the past school year, Chef Jenn worked with four Michigan school districts on behalf of UDIM, training 205 foodservice staff and potentially reaching nearly 40,000 students (about twice the seating capacity of Little Caesars Arena in Detroit). 

“Our district was recently recognized by USDA for improving the nutritional quality of school meals through the ‘Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals’ program,” says Therese Willis, Foodservice Director, Center Line Public Schools. “With a growing Bengali community in our district, we would like to introduce more culturally diverse meals and plant-based options which include yogurt, milk and cheese.” 

Plus, when students have a positive dairy experience at school, they are likely to repeat dairy preferences at home. “I think of things as a full circle,” says Brower. “How is this going to come back around and help? If we can influence students with dairy at school, they can go home and influence their parents about what they’re purchasing and hopefully impact what the family is eating in a positive way. Getting that knowledge about the benefits of dairy back to the parents, through their kids, is a cool thing.” 

Dairy-friendly meals 

UDIM is also working toward other ways to positively influence school menus and dairy utilization. The dairy checkoff will release new recipes, menus and training tools to help districts meet changing USDA School Meal Standards designed to limit added sugar and sodium, effective with the 2027-2028 school year.  

“To help ease the burdens on schools, we’ll also provide sample menus,” says Henton. “Breakfast will be a big area of emphasis, so schools will be able to follow new guidelines and keep flavored milk as a breakfast option. We’ll share popular tried-and-true recipes, and Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), the national dairy checkoff, is developing six new recipes we can tap into as well.” 

In partnership with other regional dairy checkoff organizations, DMI is also launching nationwide resources such as webinars and virtual events like cook-along demos and trainings. 

Additionally, Henton says UDIM is working to utilize other nutritional resources needed for the communities it serves. One area is determining how to best address the nutritional needs of students fasting during Ramadan.  

“We’re developing a sports nutrition guide supplement,” she says. “It will address considerations for students who are fasting. It’s focused on the students’ personal experiences and observations when it comes to adjusting their diets during certain times of the year.” 

Ultimately, these efforts are helping revitalize school nutrition and keep dairy in the spotlight. By focusing on practical applications, UDIM ensures schools can meet evolving dietary needs and underscores how dairy can remain a staple in modern school meals, benefiting students and influencing family food choices beyond the cafeteria. 

To learn more about UDIM, visit milkmeansmore.org.  

About the United Dairy Industry of Michigan 

The United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) is dedicated to serving Michigan’s hard-working dairy farm families and promoting Michigan’s locally produced dairy products. UDIM is the umbrella organization for the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council of Michigan. These non-profit organizations provide dairy product promotion and nutrition education services on behalf of their funding members.   

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High-res images and video for download.

Captions:  

UDIM_Lattes: Iced latte samples have been a hit with Michigan high school students. Several schools have adopted this menu option after partnering with UDIM. 

UDIM_Brianna Henton: Brianna Henton, UDIM Health and Wellness Director 

UDIM_Chef Jenn.pdf: K-12 culinary consultant Chef Jenn Brower 

UDIM_Cheff Jenn in kitchen.HEIC: K-12 culinary consultant Chef Jenn Brower shares culinary tips and dairy-forward recipes with school foodservice staff that pique student palettes.