Flavored milk facts for kids
Flavored milk is a sweetened dairy drink made with milk, sugar, flavorings, and sometimes food colorings. It may be sold as a pasteurized, refrigerated product, or as an ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treated product not requiring refrigeration. It may also be made in restaurants or homes by mixing flavorings into milk.
In New England, milk blended with flavored syrups such as chocolate or strawberry in a milkshake machine, is commonly called a "milkshake"; in other parts of the country, a milkshake always includes ice cream or thickeners.
Types
Bottled spiced (masala) milk is a popular beverage in the Indian subcontinent. Other companies provide flavored beverages in the United Kingdom, which sells packaged beverages to the mobile vendor market. Australia has the highest consumption rate of flavored milk in the world, standing at 9.5 L (2.5 US gal) per capita in 2004. Over the years, Kemps, a Midwestern milk company, has put various flavors of milk on the market, including their "Monkey Business" milk which is banana flavored.
Flavored milk is particularly popular in the Australian states of South Australia and Western Australia. A 2013 Sunday Times article reported Western Australia was the "flavoured milk capital of Australia," with a A$220-million industry, average consumption of 19 liters (5.0 U.S. gal) per person, and more than 40 varieties of iced coffee alone available. Similarly, a 2006 Adelaide Advertiser reported South Australia consumed 45,000,000 L (12,000,000 US gal) of flavored milk each year, with 82% of market share held by a single brand, Farmers Union. According to Coca-Cola Amatil, one of the largest bottlers in the Asia-Pacific region, South Australia is the only place where sales of flavored milk outstrip those of cola.
