Raw Milk, Explained

With the announcement that incoming president Donald Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, few topics in food policy have been hotter than raw milk. It’s believed that if his nomination were confirmed Kennedy, an anti-vaccine conspiracy theory enthusiast, would work to make raw milk more accessible to people who want to consume it. That’s hugely concerning news for public health officials, who argue that wider availability of raw milk would make many people very sick.

Most people just buy their milk at the grocery store, where they can (currently) be assured that their milk has been pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria like e. coli and salmonella, all according to Food and Drug Administration standards. In October, though, Kennedy posted to X that with Trump’s election, the “FDA’s war on public health is about to end.” “That includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds...,” he wrote. “If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”

Even if Donald Trump chooses someone else to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, raw milk will likely continue to be a topic of discussion in the coming months. Searches for “raw milk” have spiked on Google, as have sales of the product across the country, even before Trump announced Kennedy as his pick. And on November 25, 2024, the California Department of Public Health announced that the H5N1 virus — also known as bird flu — had been detected in a batch of raw milk at a California store. But what exactly is raw milk, and why do so many people want to drink it? Here’s everything you need to know.

What, exactly, is raw milk?

Raw milk is milk that comes directly from a cow, and has not been subject to the process of pasteurization, which involves heating milk to a specific temperature that can kill any bacteria that might be in the milk, including salmonella, campylobacter, and e. coli. The pasteurization process doesn’t impact the quality of the milk, but raw milk proponents believe that the process could destroy beneficial probiotics and enzymes in the milk. Evidence does not support those assertions, and it’s more likely that the “probiotics” in raw milk are just those aforementioned bacteria, which can cause serious illness in even healthy people. According to the Centers for Disease Control, symptoms associated with foodborne illness caused by contaminated raw milk include diarrhea, stomach cramping, vomiting, and “more severe outcomes like Guillain-Barré syndrome or hemolytic uremic syndrome.”

Why was raw milk banned?

Raw milk isn’t technically banned, it’s just heavily regulated. Starting in the 1910s, states and municipalities began requiring pasteurization of milk that was sold in grocery stores and other retail outlets because people were getting sick from consuming the bacteria in raw milk. Many of those people were infants, some of whom died after developing serious illnesses, like tuberculosis and diarrhea, from bacteria in their milk. At the time, it was a public health crisis. New York City became the first to require pasteurization for milk sold to consumers in 1910, but it wasn’t until 1977 that the USDA required pasteurization for “Grade A” milk, which is the only liquid milk that can be sold legally. (Grade B milk can be used for other milk-based products, like dried milk and cheese.)

In 1987, the USDA made it illegal to sell raw milk across state lines, in an attempt to “largely eliminate the risk of getting sick from one of the most important staples of the American diet.”

If raw milk is regulated, how are people still getting it?

Despite the scientific consensus on pasteurization, many states allow dairy farmers to sell the product directly to consumers from their farms. In Texas, the state issues “raw for retail” licenses to milk producers, which requires quarterly pathogen testing and maintains a public list of producers licensed to sell raw milk to consumers. California has similar permitting rules, and requires that raw milk sold to consumers is packaged with a label that includes the following warning: “Raw (unpasteurized) milk and raw milk dairy products may contain disease-causing microorganisms. Persons at highest risk of disease from these organisms include newborns and infants; the elderly; pregnant women; those taking corticosteroids, antibiotics or antacids; and those having chronic illnesses or other conditions that weaken their immunity.”

Are people still getting sick from drinking raw milk?

Yes. Even as proponents like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. insist that raw milk is healthier for consumption than pasteurized milk, hundreds of people have gotten sick from consuming it in recent years. In June, a salmonella outbreak at Raw Farm in Fresno, California left 171 people across four states ill, with symptoms that included “near-constant” diarrhea and fatigue. Washington’s Cozy Vale Creamery has been implicated in at least three different e. coli outbreaks connected to raw milk in 2024, and similar outbreaks have occurred in Idaho, Pennsylvania, and New York this year.

Okay, so why do so many people want to drink raw milk?

Many of the people who want to drink raw milk simply don’t believe the USDA’s claims about how dangerous it can be. The Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization that advocates for raw milk, calls pasteurization a “shame,” not a life-saving scientific innovation. They describe raw milk as an “inherently safe food,” and argue that the USDA’s claims about its dangers are rooted in “bad science.” Most proponents of raw milk are highly skeptical of the FDA and the USDA for a variety of reasons. Some believe that they’re paid off by “big dairy” to keep raw milk away from the public. Others simply don’t believe that the federal government should tell them what to do.

Should I drink raw milk?

Once again, no.