Your grocery store or market probably has a number of milk options for customers to peruse: whole, two percent, skim, chocolate, local, grass-fed, store brand...the list goes on.
Most, if not all of these options, are pasteurized. That means the milk has gone through a process to rid it of bacteria.
But many people prefer their milk unpasteurized, or raw. According to the market research firm Nielsen IQ, raw milk sales last spring compared to the same period a year before. It's attracted some prominent boosters, including and of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Unpasteurized milk is also more likely to carry pathogens like , listeria, and e. coli.
Three people with deep knowledge of food processing and the dairy industry discussed raw milk on Vermont Edition: E.B. Flory, division director of food safety for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, Andrea Etter, University of Vermont assistant professor of food microbiology, and Ashlyn Bristol of Rebop Farm in Brattleboro.
They shared these facts about raw milk in Vermont to take into consideration when making purchasing decisions for yourself and your family:
It's legal to buy and sell raw milk
According to federal law, Vermont dairy farmers cannot sell milk , but they can sell it within the state.
State regulators categorize raw milk producers into . Tier one farms sell, give or barter 87.5 gallons or less of raw milk per week. They are not required to be registered with the state or have their milk regularly tested.
Tier two farms can deliver to customers' homes or farmers markets. They are subject to stricter standards: they have to register with the state, get a yearly facilities inspection, and test their milk quality twice a month.
Cows in both groups are required to have a rabies vaccination and tested for brucellosis and TB. "Our legislature is trying to make sure that those things don't get passed on to people," Flory said. Each state sets its own regulations around the sale of raw milk.
Pasteurization lowers risk
The pasteurization process involves heating each molecule of milk to a specific temperature and for a specific amount of time to eliminate pathogens.
Raw milk is not heat-treated, though it is typically filtered.
Pasteurization has drastically reduced the incidence of milk-borne illnesses in the United States. Twenty-five percent of all reported food-borne illness outbreaks in 1938 came from milk. Today, milk is responsible for less than one percent of reported outbreaks.
Avian influenza can survive in raw milk
Regulators from a California dairy farm last November after bird flu was detected in the milk. No human bird flu cases associated with the milk were detected, but officials urged buyers not to drink raw milk from the affected batches.
"This is not the normal pathogens that we're used to fighting," Flory said. "As far as we know in the history of the world, highly pathogenic avian influenza has never jumped to dairy cattle, and we are the only country that we know of currently that has faced this issue."
Don't let it sit around
In Vermont, raw milk has to be sold within four days of milking. It has a shorter shelf life than pasteurized milk.
"As it gets further removed from the farm, it's not going to last as long," Flory said. "It's going to spoil."
Factor in your age and preexisting health conditions
Risk levels differ depending on a person's age and preexisting health issues. Etter said young children, pregnant people, and those undergoing treatment for cancer, HIV or other serious conditions are at much higher risk of hospitalization for some of the illnesses transmittable through raw milk.
Listeria tops her health concerns when it comes to raw milk. "It's pretty rare," she said, "but if you're pregnant and you get listeria, you have pretty good odds of having complications."
Know your farmer
You can't eliminate all the risks of raw milk, but you can mitigate them.
The most important step, according to Flory, is finding a farm you trust. "A big thing is knowing the farm and knowing what goes into the animals, the harvesting, the sanitation practices, the cooling and the handling," she said, "because there are risks that are associated with the milk."
"Trust between producer and consumer is so important, and particularly in raw milk," Bristle said. "We try to do a lot of customer education about how to take that milk and get it home safely."
Broadcast live on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
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