Raw Milk: Cuddly Disease Preventing Hero or Death Causing Uber Villain?

The yogurt in question.

A few weeks ago, I went grocery shopping at an Amish market. This market is a completely unique experience with all of the cute Amish 10 year olds breaking child labor laws serving up stuffed pork chops, fruits and veggies, baked goods, and this amazing pit roasted turkey, all while wearing their traditional attire. Vendors from various farms set up shop in the open-area building and the customer pays for his or her selections in each department. A section of the market is dedicated to breads, another section to meat, other sections to furniture and jewelry, etc. My story takes place in the dairy department.

Upon entering the market, a case of prepared salads, including my husband’s favorite, Amish macaroni salad, beckons. I knew that I might as well not return home if I forgot the Amish macaroni salad, so I made a beeline for the counter. The counter wraps around into the cheese and dairy section. I grabbed a few cheeses, paid for my goods and moved to the bread department. It was after I visited the produce and meat vendors that I realized that I missed my Saturday morning farmer’s market and didn’t have yogurt for breakfast. By that time, I was in a hurry and rushed back to the dairy department, grabbed a maple yogurt off the shelf and went on my merry way.

It wasn’t until a few days and half the yogurt container later when I was preparing my breakfast at work that I fully comprehended the label. I had bought yogurt made with raw, unpasteurized, fresh-from-the-farm milk. First, I sent an email to a coworker to inform him that if I suddenly died, he should point the investigators toward the yogurt in the fridge. Then I set about eating my breakfast. This maple, full-fat, unprocessed yogurt was admittedly pretty awesome. In fact, it was awesome enough that I threw food-borne illness caution to the wind and finished the container that day. It’s now a week later and my stomach is a-okay.

I first became interested in the raw milk controversy in May when a Facebook friend posted pictures from the Rally for Food and Farm Freedom on the National Mall. People gathered for this rally to protest the government’s regulation of raw milk. For the past two years the FDA has been organizing stings on Amish farms that illegally sell or ship unpasteurized milk. The rally was organized to help protect the small farms affected by these laws and the consumers who prefer to drink raw milk.

Confusingly, both state and federal laws regulate raw milk sales. There are a myriad of baffling, ever changing state laws on the books about raw milk. (I have to disclose that the concept of state laws confuses me. I don’t grasp the purpose of different laws in different states, like why you can buy beer and wine in grocery stores in both the District and Virginia, but not in my current state of Maryland. That being said, my analysis of these state laws should be taken with a grain of salt.) Apparently cows, and their milk, are healthier and carry less bacteria in some states than others. It appears by this fancy color-coded map that cows are very dangerous in Maryland, West Virginia, Nevada, Louisiana, Montana, Michigan, the state southwest of Michigan, and New Jersey and cows in the other states are relatively safe. Unfortunately, I bought my apparently illicit raw-milk yogurt in Maryland. Damn! I can only hope that it was smuggled illegally (per FDA federal regulations) across state lines from Pennsylvania Amish country, where apparently the cows are happy and healthy. Of note, Ron Paul, an unlikely advocate for the hippie-base of raw milk consumers, recently introduced a bill in Congress to allow raw milk transport across state lines.

So, why go to all of the trouble to smuggle and protest to buy raw milk? Proponents of raw milk feel passionately that it prevents allergies, asthma, heart disease, cancer, and autism, and that it does not cause more food-borne illness than pasteurized milk, as long as it is handled correctly.

The FDA claims that raw milk is responsible for a lot of lost bodily fluids from outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli, listeria and campylobacter.

Both sides are passionate and throw journal articles and case studies around like it’s nobody’s business. Get ready for a throw down like no other!