Got (raw) milk?

Would you go on the record for drinking raw milk?

I am deeply bothered that there are issues that we are seemingly not allowed to talk about, like raw milk, so much so that, in writing this, I was worried about outing someone or making someone out themselves. Everyone I spoke to about this topic agreed. They also agreed that going on the record for this could harm their businesses. Furthermore, in thinking about facts, divisiveness, and issues around food, I am deeply worried about the current administration’s unqualified cabinet, its policy aims of ending regulation, coupled with its general undermining of public health officials. This divides us further, makes us less safe, and makes it less possible to have open discourse.

But my original query all started with one friend. I’ll call her A.

I was at a dinner party in December with a mutual friend of A. As we chatted, I wondered if A would mind if I shared that she drank raw milk, that she also peddled it from the back of her shop. My wonder turned to worry. Worrying about outing her. 

When I started to think about why it would out her, per se, I was reminded of Covid times, when we were all considering the brand new mRNA vaccine and the fear we felt for questioning it. 

There were those who were all in, and those who were completely opposed. Many of us found ourselves somewhere in the middle: skeptical. We kept mum though, lest we were accused of not “believing the science.” Even now, I feel the need to go on the record, before anyone gets too ruffled, and state clearly: my friends and I did get vaccinated. More for community health than our own, but still. 

Raw milk has replaced the mRNA vaccine as the issue, where the majority is silenced by the extremes on either side of society, those who are all in, and those who are totally opposed. On one side it’s “If you drink raw milk, you’re with the anti-vaxxers,” and on the other “If you don’t drink raw milk, you’re a sheeple.” This polarization of the issue eliminates nuance, something those on the far side of every issue seem to revel in, but something that is fundamental to the study and querying of all knowledge. 

Not long ago, my staff and I were invited to tour Toluma Farms where they make Tomales Farmstead Creamery cheeses. We watched as they rounded up the goats and brought them into the milking shed, organizing them into the stalls. The very first thing they did was wash their udders with an iodine solution. This stood out to me at the time because a farmer friend had recently huffed about “those people” who drink raw milk; They were just asking to get E. coli or listeria or whatever. It’s true that manure and soil contain a broad number of pathogens. Cleaning the udders thoroughly, I was told at the farm that day, eliminates those. This made me think about my friends who’ve been drinking raw milk for decades, intelligent people like A, who never got those bacterial infections. Did they get viruses like the rest of us? Sure. But not bacterial ones.

Why drink raw milk then? Devotees say it builds immunity, treats allergies, and supports gut health. And the enzymes that do all this good work are destroyed during pasteurization. But if you read the Food and Drug Administration’s missives on the consumption of raw milk, you’d steer (yes to cow references here!) clear of it. They submit paper after paper disqualifying all of the ideas put forth by raw milk enthusiasts. However, also according to the FDA, the numbers of folks infected with pathogens from consuming raw milk are actually minimal. Let’s look at the numbers.

In 2006, there were two people in California, and two people in Washington. In 2008, eighteen people. In 2010, eight people. Zooming out for a bigger picture, the National Library of Medicine, which collects data from multiple jurisdictions and reporting agencies, reports: From 2013-2018, there were 675 total illnesses. They did find that in states where unpasteurised milk is legally sold, there were far more incidences. This leads them to conclude that it should not be legalized. During that same five-year period, the FDA estimated that one to two percent of the adult population consumed raw milk. That is 2,580,000 on the low end, double that on the higher end. Doing the math, incidence of disease was 675 in 12.9 million. (PBS writes that in 2024 11 million Americans consumed raw milk. An uptick to 4.4% of the adult population.)

Here’s where it gets really interesting. The total number of illnesses of those consuming raw milk from 1998 to 2018 was 2,645. The total number of illnesses of those consuming pasteurised milk from the same period was 2,133. While this may provide ammo for raw milk supporters, let’s keep those gun safeties on. We’ve got one more thing to consider.

All of this info is prior to the current outbreak of Avian influenza, HPAI H5N1, which is infecting many different animals, including cows. As of today, a total of 15 states, including California, have dairy herds who tested positive for bird flu. One thing we do know is that zoonotic diseases are elegant and easily mutate. 

This is from a letter from the FDA to all states and jurisdictions, including tribal regions:

“Given the current and potential future risks that HPAI H5N1 virus poses to our nation’s public health, as well as the health of our nation’s food-producing animals and wildlife, it is important to work together to minimize additional exposure of humans and other animal species to the HPAI H5N1 virus to reduce the potential for additional HPAI H5N1 infections and reduce the virus’s opportunity to adapt to new hosts. Because raw milk has the potential to contain viable (live) HPAI H5N1 virus, it represents a potential route of consumer exposure to the virus. Based on the limited research and information available, we do not know at this time if the HPAI H5N1 virus can be transmitted to humans through consumption of raw milk and products made from raw milk from infected cows. However, exposures on affected farms are associated with three documented cases of H5N1 illness in dairy workers.”

We may not have enough information on how the virus affects cows to know if we can get bird flu by consuming raw milk. It is clear that pasteurization kills the virus. As of now, all the data are not in.

Without taking bird flu into consideration, or this current administration, I, like some of you perhaps, wondered what all the hubbub was about. Why is it even a hot button issue, one that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is gurgling about, saying he’ll legalize raw milk nationally? Why are so many people so enthusiastic about it, more so now than ever? PBS reported, “Since March 25, 2024, when the bird flu virus was confirmed in U.S. cattle for the first time, weekly sales of raw cow’s milk have ticked up 21% to as much as 65% compared with the same periods a year ago, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ. That runs counter to advice from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which calls raw milk one of the “riskiest” foods people can consume.” Perhaps more and more people are seeking it out because it’s become this divisive issue.

Drink whatever you want to drink, right? Well, yes and no. For me, I harken back to that one thing: community-health. Just like with the mRNA vaccines, I did that for the greater good, not for me. If by drinking raw milk I help the bird flu virus mutate and hurt millions of others, especially when someone like R.F.K. Jr., a vocal critic of vaccines, is in charge of public health (AND the U.S. is no longer part of the World Health Organization,) I worry I’d be contributing to a pandemic.

After all this processing, I’ve concluded three things: I’ll continue querying about food issues  (hot button or not,) I’m not outing A, and until after all the evidence is uncovered, I’m sticking with pasteurized organic milk from pasture-raised cows. For now. 

At the very least, though? Let's talk about it.