The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Donald Trump’s controversial health secretary pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been behind an “aggressive suppression” of anything that “advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.” That includes, Kennedy said in his X post on the matter, psychedelics, stem cells, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, sunshine—and raw milk, which he has said is the only kind of milk he drinks.
Between RFK Jr. touting its supposed benefits and widespread fears over raw milk being a vector of the fast-progressing bird flu, the dairy product—laws for the sale of which vary by state—has gotten lots of attention lately. And plenty of people drink it—4.4% of U.S. adults reported consuming it at least once in the past year (according to 2019 data), with 1.6% reporting they drink it at least once a month and 1.0% saying they do so at least once a week.
So what’s the truth about the risks and benefits of raw milk, which can sell for up to $21 a gallon? Below, a primer.
What is raw milk?
Raw milk refers to the milk of an animal—typically a cow but also a goat or sheep—that has not been pasteurized.
Pasteurization is the heat-treatment process, named for inventor Louis Pasteur, that destroys harmful bacteria in and allows for a longer shelf life of certain foods and beverages. The most popular approach for milk in the U.S. is to heat it with metal plates to temperatures of at least 161 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 seconds, then cool it rapidly. To be considered ultra-pasteurized, milk must be heated to 280 degrees for two seconds.
What are the health risks of drinking raw milk?
Raw milk, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, can carry dangerous germs such as Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella, Campylobacter, and others that cause foodborne illness. They can be especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, children, older adults, and pregnant women.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that from 1998 through 2018, there were 202 outbreaks linked to drinking raw milk, causing 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations.
Symptoms of foodborne illness from raw milk can include diarrhea, stomach cramping, and vomiting, according to the CDC—and, in some cases, more severe responses like Guillain-Barré syndrome or hemolytic uremic syndrome, potentially leading to paralysis, kidney failure, stroke, or death.
With the rise of bird flu, which has so far seen 66 human cases in the U.S. since last year—and ever since the first detection of the virus in dairy cattle in March of 2024—risks around raw milk have been highlighted by the FDA and CDC. Both agencies urge people to stick to milk that’s been pasteurized, a process which would inactivate the virus. And in early December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a federal order noting that all dairy farms must allow their product to be tested for bird flu.
“Though we haven't had a confirmed human case of H5N1 from raw milk, we've had plenty of examples of animals getting infected by it,” Andrew Pekosz, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told the Public Health on Call podcast this week. “If you're in one of those areas, you should practice more caution, or in the case of raw milk, just don't consume it.”
What are the health benefits of drinking raw milk?
There are no benefits, according to the FDA, which says that pasteurization does not reduce milk’s nutritional value and that raw milk does not: help asthma or allergies, help prevent osteoporosis better than pasteurized milk, offer beneficial bacteria for gut health, help build one’s immune system, or offer a nutritionally superior product than that of pasteurized milk.
A 2015 study of raw milk risks and benefits conducted by John Lucey, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of food science and director of the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research—which is funded by the dairy industry and its promotional arm, the Dairy Checkoff Program—concluded that “raw milk is not inherently safe” and that there is “no evidence that raw milk has any inherent health or nutritional benefits.”
Raw milk advocates, though, beg to differ. The Raw Milk Institute, a small nonprofit collective of raw milk producers, scientists, and health experts, points to several studies which appear to back that up—including large European data analyses which found associations between childhood consumption of raw farm milk and lower risk of asthma, allergies, and respiratory infections.
They point to the importance of bioactives—compounds found in a variety of plant-based foods that are being studied for their role in cancer, heart disease, and more.
Bioactives found in milk include α-lactalbumin (a globular protein made of 123 amino acids), lactoferrin, glycomacropeptide, milk fat globule membrane, and milk oligosaccharides. But “during thermal processing,” notes a 2021 analysis of milk bioactives out of Cornell University, chemical reactions may occur that will “reduce the nutritional values.” Further, it says, referencing a 2015 study of milk proteins, the heat of pasteurization may cause “intramolecular reactions,” which “deteriorate the protein digestibility and bioavailability or even introduce toxicity.”
“Bioactives are destroyed in pasteurization,” claims Mark McAfee, chairman and president of the Raw Milk Institute and CEO of RFK Jr.’s reported favorite raw milk company Raw Farm, in speaking with Fortune.
But the CDC is firm in its stance: “Pasteurized milk offers the same nutritional benefits without the risks of raw milk consumption.”
Why is there so much disagreement about raw milk?
When Raw Farm issued a voluntary six-week recall recently, after bird flu was detected by state health officials in its milk, McAfee noted in its recall notice, “There are no illnesses associated with H5N1 in our products, but rather this is a political issue.”
McAfee, who says he’s been asked by RFK Jr.'s running mate Nicole Shanahan to apply for the role of "raw milk adviser" in the FDA (although milk policy has long been a state issue) believes the controversy has been stirred up by the powerful American (pasteurized) dairy industry, which, as of 2021, had an economic impact of $753 billion.
He makes a distinction between two different raw milks—raw milk that is intended for pasteurization, coming out of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (the majority of U.S. dairy operations, which are large-scale and include confinement of animals), and raw milk that is intended for human consumption and bottled right on the small-operation farm. “There is a stark contrast between the CAFO dairy and this raw milk dairy,” the Raw Milk Institute site notes, regarding practices having to do with the health and hygiene of cows. McAfee argues that the standard for raw milk intended for pasteurization is too low, and that it must be raised to a uniform standard that applies to raw milk intended for human consumption—something he’d aim to do if given the chance.
About the widespread fear of bird flu, he tells Fortune, “I understand. I get the whole paranoid thing, but you don't shut down raw milk forever.”
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