Happy Cow Appreciation Day and Celebrate Ice Cream Month

Today is Cow Appreciation Day and July is designated National Ice Cream month. In celebration of both, I spoke with International Dairy Foods Association Vice President of Communications Peggy Armstrong to learn more about how this month became the month to celebrate this wonderful frozen dessert.
Armstrong: “July became National Ice Cream back in 1984 when then President Ronald Reagan designated it as National Ice Cream month and with that proclamation he also declared that the third Sunday of July would be National Ice Cream Day. When he made the proclamation, he recognized that ice cream is a fun and nutritious food that is enjoyed by about 90 percent of the nation’s population. He also said that not only is it delicious but it plays an important part of the U.S. economy and the dairy industry’s economy.”
The average American consumes almost 22 pounds of ice cream per year. Last year ice cream companies made more than 872 million gallons of ice cream. Vanilla continues to reign as the nation’s most favorite flavor. Armstrong continues
Armstrong: “10.3 percent of the milk produced by American dairy cows goes into the production of ice cream. We would not have the vanilla you enjoy would not have the wonderful clear clean taste that it does, if we were not getting absolutely delicious and excellent milk from our dairy cows. It starts there.”