School lunches are a vital source of nutrition for children from low‑income families worldwide, and milk can be an important component of this support.
Milk provides high‑quality protein for growth, along with calcium for bone development, B vitamins, and vitamin A for eye health. However, ensuring access to safe milk in school lunches—particularly in developing countries—can be difficult. When milk is unsafe, children cannot benefit from its nutritional value.
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, where one in four children suffer chronic malnutrition. Recurrent natural disasters and a susceptibility to the effects of climate change contribute to food insecurity. Weather extremes such as prolonged drought and hurricanes severely affect the ability of subsistence farmers to produce enough food to feed their families.
Project Leche was a pioneering 2017-2020 partnership between Kerry Group and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) focused on improving school meals in Honduras by integrating sustainably produced dairy, enhancing local dairy farming, and boosting community incomes.
Image: WFP/Hetze Tosta
Kerry shared expertise in dairy, nutrition, and processing, helping create a safer milk supply and supporting WFP’s Home Grown School Meals (HGSM) program to combat malnutrition and build economic resilience.
To promote good practice at farm level, a peer-to-peer learning model was established similar to that used among Kerry’s own milk suppliers in Ireland.
In essence, “Project Leche” was Kerry’s initial flagship project with WFP, demonstrating how expertise in dairy and nutrition can support food security and economic development in vulnerable communities, a model continued in subsequent projects like Amata
In essence, Project Leche was Kerry’s initial flagship project with WFP, demonstrating how expertise in dairy and nutrition can support food security and economic development in vulnerable communities. This program later evolved into Project Amata in Burundi.
Contributor:
Kerry Health and Nutrition Institute
Science for Healthier Food
We bring the voice of science to some of the most challenging questions facing the food and beverage industry day to day through our network of over 1000 Kerry scientists, external collaborators, and our Scientific Advisory Council. Our content comes straight from scientists and experts in nutrition, taste, food, and sensory sciences to make sure we are providing up-to-date, credible information to guide people shaping the future of food.
