Interest in raw milk grows in Missouri despite restrictions and health concerns

Raw, unpasteurized milk can contain bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria, which cause food-borne illness, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

But proponents promote purported health benefits of raw milk, helping fuel interest. A review of Google Trends data shows interest in the search term “raw milk” jumping significantly over the past three years.

One high-profile raw milk supporter is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the man President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA. Kennedy has said he would end the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of raw milk.

Raw milk laws vary by state. In Missouri, consumers are allowed to purchase raw cow’s milk. But there are rules.

Christi Miller, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, said consumers may either travel directly to the farm to pick up the milk, or the farmer can deliver the milk directly to the consumer.

Retail location sales and “drop locations” are not allowed, she said.

Legislation filed by state Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby, in southwest Missouri, would allow farmers market sales of raw milk.

It would also allow consumers to purchase raw milk from a farmer and then pick it up at the grocery store; the grocery store wouldn’t be allowed to sell it directly to consumers.

Raw milk legislation won initial approval in the House in 2020 but hasn’t won final approval in the chamber. In the Senate, lobbyists representing various agriculture groups lined up in 2023 to oppose Carter’s raw milk bill in committee. The measure did not advance.

Opponents included the Missouri Dairy Association, the Missouri Grocers Association, the Missouri Farm Bureau, the Missouri Soybean Association, the Missouri Cattleman’s Association and a representative of the State Milk Board.

Dan Shaul, a former state legislator and current director of the Missouri Grocers Association, said his organization still believes raw milk could be a danger to the public.

“Food safety is paramount, and the No. 1 concern when it comes to all of our products, especially dairy products,” he said.

Maddie Connelly, a raw milk dairy farmer who owns Pretty Cow Milk Co. in Cabool with her husband, Callan, said she “would love” if grocery store deliveries or farmers market sales were allowed.

“If they’re going to do that, the farmers should have to be graded in some way ... to ensure that the milk is clean,” she said.

She said interest in raw milk is growing.

“More and more people are wanting to know where their food’s coming from,” Connelly said. “They’re wanting the more natural-type food. They feel like it’s healthier for them and their family.”

A 2022 article published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Infection linked 675 illnesses between 2013 to 2018 to unpasteurized milk. Nearly half of the illnesses recorded were among individuals aged 19 and younger.

The same study also noted three deaths tied to pasteurized milk between 1998 and 2018.

But three deaths were also tied to unpasteurized milk, along with more recorded illnesses, hospitalizations and outbreaks of foodborne illness, the researchers found.

There were 228 hospitalizations linked to unpasteurized milk and 33 tied to pasteurized milk. While nine outbreaks were tied to pasteurized milk, there were more than 200 outbreaks tied to unpasteurized milk, the researchers found.

Milk sold in Missouri grocery stores is pasteurized — a process developed in the 19th century in which milk is heated up to kill dangerous bacteria.

“We pasteurize milk the same reason we cook meat,” said Brian Riegel, a co-owner of Riegel Dairy in Washington, Missouri, and a board member of Missouri Dairy. Riegel sells his milk to a co-op, which pasteurizes the milk before delivering it to grocery stores.

The dairy industry is currently contending with the spread of bird flu in cattle. Pasteurization inactivates the virus, according to the FDA.

The California Department of Public Health recently issued a recall for milk produced by Raw Farm after H5N1, or bird flu, showed up in samples.

But in a sign of the massive shift possible in public health, Mark McAfee, CEO of the California-based company, reportedly could join the next Trump administration as its “raw milk adviser.”

The legislation is Senate Bill 395.