As health officials struggle to determine the spread of bird flu in American dairy cattle, some lawmakers are pushing to legalize and increase access to raw milk.
(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
For more than 160 years, pasteurization has been heralded as one of the most effective and efficient ways to ensure public food safety. But as health officials scramble to determine and contain the spread of bird flu in the country's dairy cattle, a growing number of state governments are turning their backs on this gold standard of public health.
In the past four weeks, Iowa, Louisiana and Delaware have passed laws or are in the process of passing bills that would legalize the commercial sale of raw milk for human consumption within their borders.
The commercial sale of raw milk in California is legal, although not all stores choose to sell it.
“The science and technology of pasteurization has kept people safe since the 1860s,” said Michael Payne, researcher and extension coordinator at the Western Food Safety Institute at the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine.
“When we don't pasteurize milk, we have outbreaks,” he said, citing recent salmonella outbreaks in California and three other states, as well as an E. coli outbreak in 2023-24 caused by cheese made from raw milk that sickened 11 people. in five states. He said five of the 11 victims were hospitalized and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a serious condition that can cause kidney failure and brain damage.
“While I firmly believe that people should be able to eat anything they choose to produce or share, including raw milk, in the past I have aggressively campaigned against the sale of commercial raw milk in stores as a matter of public safety,” he said. (A herd share is a system in which a customer can buy a “share” of the dairy herd and receive milk and other dairy products in return.)
“People desperate to believe they have found the miracle solution to health cannot be dissuaded from misunderstanding a technology that has done more for food security than any other invention. After testifying before the state Legislature against the sale of raw milk in stores, I was once escorted out of 'members only' access because police feared for my safety,” Payne said.
But state lawmakers pushing for access to raw milk say they are more concerned about “food freedom” and the potential benefits that dairy farmers would reap (i.e., being able to charge more money for their product) than about a problem. that they do not see discussed. in the news.
“There's very real evidence that says this space is safe… and I haven't seen those deaths… among people who use raw milk,” said Delaware state Sen. Eric Buckson, author of a bill that would allow Consumers buy raw milk from farms. “There are certainly those who may suffer from an upset stomach or become ill because of it. “They recover pretty quickly.”
It's a comment that confuses Murrieta resident Mary McGonigle-Martin, who believed giving her son raw milk would make him healthier, until it nearly killed him.
In 2006, his son Eric drank raw milk contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7. Over the next 24 hours, he became sicker and sicker. Hospitalized, he was diagnosed with HUS.
Although he eventually recovered from congestive heart and kidney failure, as well as a collapsed lung, acute pancreatitis, high blood pressure and seizures, his kidneys are still compromised and require annual monitoring. She is now 26 years old.
McGonigle-Martin said the embrace of raw milk by politicians, alternative health food influencers and others is the result of “generational amnesia.”
“It's been a hundred years” since pasteurization became widespread in our food supply, he said. “We did not live in the era when children died. We do not live in the era when pasteurization was invented and pasteurized milk was sought” because parents knew it was safe.
“We would never dream of letting our children eat raw chicken or meat,” she said. “That would be crazy, right? However, we make it with milk. “We have lost wisdom.”
Federal officials say they have found high levels of active H5N1 (a highly pathogenic avian influenza) in raw milk. Observations and studies have shown that barn cats that drank contaminated raw milk suffered horrible symptoms, such as blindness, brain inflammation, and neurological problems, in addition to death.
Additionally, laboratory mice that received raw milk from H5N1-infected cows experienced high levels of virus in their respiratory organs and lower levels of virus in other vital organs, according to a recent study.
With uncertainty about how widespread the infection is in U.S. dairy herds and the announcement of the third human case of H5N1 earlier this week, officials are warning people to avoid raw milk and processed products. with raw milk.
Buckson, the Delaware lawmaker, said he understands the concern, but when he looks around, “we know that more than 30 states actively allow the use of raw milk, and we don't have a widespread outbreak of avian influenza,” he said. saying.
He said the science on the flu was “undetermined” and that early indications suggested it was “not transferable” and that it was unlikely to be “something that would present itself as some kind of wave of disease that is injected into raw meat.” milk or pasteurized milk, in any case.”
Currently, Delaware has some of the strictest laws in the country regarding the sale of raw milk, adhering to the FDA policy that raw milk should not be consumed for any reason. It is currently illegal to sell or transport “any unpasteurized liquid milk or dairy product in final packaged form for direct human consumption.”
Laura Matusheski, spokeswoman for the Delaware Division of Public Health, said her agency “does not comment on pending legislation.”
Kimberly Coates, the Louisiana lawmaker who wrote pending legislation in that state that would legalize commercial sales of raw milk, declined to respond.
That legislation, which passed the Louisiana House and Senate, would require warning labels on raw milk products, stating that the milk “has NOT been pasteurized and therefore may contain harmful bacteria that can cause serious illness.” in children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. systems.”
For products that use raw milk for animal or pet food, the label would say: “Warning: Not for human consumption. This product has not been pasteurized and may contain harmful bacteria.”
Buckson said the requirements written into Delaware law will help keep the product safe.
It's a feeling McGonigle-Martin clings to. He said he knows the battle to keep raw milk out of stores and in children's mouths is lost. Therefore, he hopes that safeguards will be put in place that will reduce risk and harm. And she wants parents to educate themselves and turn to public health experts, not TikTok and Instagram influencers, or the raw milk industry.
“I just think politicians should take a deep breath and realize that the reason we pasteurize milk is because, you know, before pasteurization was one of the leading causes of infant death,” said Bill Marler, an attorney for foodborne illnesses at the Seattle-area law firm Marler and Clark.
In an email, California Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman Steve Lyle said his agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “take milk safety very seriously and there are laws requiring that milk for human consumption comes from healthy cows.
“Because cows can become infected before they show signs of being sick, pasteurization provides an additional guarantee of food safety. For dairies that do not pasteurize, it is particularly important to ensure that the health of each cow is monitored. Like most modern dairies in California…progressive methods [are used] to monitor the health of each cow that is producing milk,” he said.
