Public health officials in California detected bird flu in a sample of raw milk this month. The virus first spread to dairy cattle in the US in March.
The discovery comes amid an increasingly heated public debate about the merits and drawbacks of raw milk. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the anti-vaccine activist and Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services (HHS), is a proponent of raw milk and has claimed that as HHS secretary, he will support farmers who sell it. At the same time, public health experts have continued to advise against drinking raw milk, which is more likely to contain an array of harmful bacteria.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is raw milk and why are people talking about it?
Raw milk comes straight from the cow (or sheep or goat) and has not been pasteurized. Developed by Louis Pasteur at the end of the 19th century to help kill harmful bacteria in wine, pasteurization is the process of heating liquids in order to eliminate harmful pathogens and make them safe to drink.
Raw milk has been a popular topic in social media wellness circles for some time. Take one TikTok video posted in 2023 by a supplement company called Heart and Soil. In it, three young people toss a gallon of (presumably raw) milk to each other, take a deep swig, and say things like, “Raw milk is generally misunderstood by most people,” and “Unfortunately, most of the milk you find in grocery stores is pasteurized.”
In another, Paul Saladino, a popular fitness influencer also known as Carnivore MD, shirtlessly sings the supposed praises of raw milk, saying, “This is nothing like that pasteurized, homogenized milk you get in the store, guys.”
In these videos, the word “pasteurized” is uttered with a sneer that suggests it’s a dangerous byproduct of humankind’s gluttonous perversions, the way you might say “microplastics” or “Mountain Dew Code Red”.
This negativity seems to tap into the anxiety many consumers feel about ultra-processed foods. We regularly hear that the modern grocery store is a repository of food-like substances, and that one must practice constant vigilance to avoid them. But pasteurization does not reduce milk’s nutritional value to that of a soda.
Is raw milk safe to drink?
Food safety experts are “absolutely horrified” by the growing raw milk trend, says Dr Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.
“Pasteurizing milk is one of the great public health achievements of the 20th century,” Nestle says. “Drinking cow’s milk used to kill babies.”
Nestle adds that she thinks the embrace of raw milk goes beyond an anxiety about ultra-processed foods – which pasteurized milk, she underscores, is not. “It’s part of the whole anti-authoritarian, anti-science, anti-expertise waves that we’re seeing in this country right now.”
Raw milk’s adherents claim it has more vitamins and minerals than pasteurized milk. The CDC disputes this, saying “scientists do not have any evidence that shows a nutritional benefit from raw milk,” and that “raw milk can carry harmful germs, such as campylobacter, cryptosporidium, E coli, listeria, brucella, and salmonella”.
These germs can lead to food poisoning and symptoms such as diarrhea, stomach cramping, vomiting, fever, headaches and body aches.
A popular rejoinder from raw milk fans is that humans were drinking untreated milk for centuries before Pasteur came along. But as the FDA notes, “while most healthy people will recover from an illness caused by harmful bacteria in raw milk – or in foods made with raw milk – within a short time, some can develop symptoms that are chronic, severe, or even life threatening.”
Per the CDC, the serious conditions associated with consuming unpasteurized dairy include Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves, and hemolytic uremic syndrome, which affects the kidneys and the body’s blood-clotting functions.
Still, more than two dozen states including California, Idaho, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Utah have legalized the sale of raw milk. According to studies conducted by the CDC, between 1998 and 2018, outbreaks linked to raw milk led to 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations.
It is possible to drink raw milk with no issues. But as Dr Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics, infectious diseases and epidemiology at Stanford Medicine, told the New York Times: “Well, yeah, you can also drive around without a seatbelt or ride a motorcycle without a helmet.” The implication: these behaviors are risky nonetheless.
“The consequences of drinking raw milk are so serious,” Nestle says. But while these consequences are rare, she says, “the probability of getting sick from raw milk is higher than the probability of getting sick from pasteurized milk”.
This article was originally published on 17 January 2024. It was updated on 26 November 2024.
