Sales of raw milk appear to be rising, despite years of warnings about the health risks of consuming unpasteurized products – and an outbreak of avian flu in dairy cows.
Since March 25, when the bird flu virus was first confirmed in U.S. livestock, weekly sales of raw cow’s milk have increased 21% to 65% compared with the same periods a year ago, according to with market research. company NielsenIQ.
This goes against advice from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which consider raw milk one of the “riskiest” foods people can consume.
“Raw milk can be contaminated with harmful germs that can make you very sick,” the CDC states on its website.
As of Monday, at least 42 herds in nine states were known to have cows infected with the virus known as type A H5N1, federal officials said.
The virus has been found in high levels in raw milk from infected cows. Viral remains have been found in milk samples sold in supermarkets, but the FDA has said these products are safe for consumption because pasteurization has been confirmed to kill the virus.
It is not yet known whether the live virus can be transmitted to people who consume milk that has not been heat treated.
But CDC officials warned last week that people who drink raw milk could theoretically become infected if the bird flu virus comes into contact with receptors in the nose, mouth and throat or by inhaling the virus into the lungs. There is also concern that if more people are exposed to the virus, it could mutate and spread more easily in people.
States have widely varying regulations regarding raw milk, with some allowing retail sales in stores and others allowing sales only on farms. Some states allow so-called cowshares, where people pay for milk from designated animals, and some allow consumption only by farm owners, employees or “non-paying guests.”
NielsenIQ numbers include supermarkets and other retail outlets. They show that raw dairy products represent a small fraction of total dairy sales. About 4,100 units of raw cow’s milk and about 43,000 units of raw milk cheese were sold the week of May 5, for example, according to NielsenIQ. This compares to about 66.5 million units of pasteurized cow’s milk and about 62 million units of pasteurized cheese.
Still, testimonials about raw milk are trending on social media. And Mark McAfee, owner of Raw Farm USA in Fresno, California, says he can’t keep his unpasteurized products in stock.
“People are looking for raw milk like crazy,” he said, noting that no bird flu has been detected in his flocks or in California. “Anything the FDA tells our customers to do, they do the opposite.”
The increase surprises Donald Schaffner, a food science professor at Rutgers University, who called the trend “absolutely stunning.”
“Food safety experts like me just shake their heads,” he said.
From 1998 to 2018, the CDC documented more than 200 disease outbreaks attributed to raw milk, which sickened more than 2,600 people and hospitalized more than 225.
Raw milk is much more likely than pasteurized milk to cause illnesses and hospitalizations linked to dangerous bacteria like Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella and E. coli, research shows.
Before milk standards were adopted in 1924, about 25 percent of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. were linked to dairy consumption, said Alex O’Brien, safety and quality coordinator at the Center for Dairy Research. Now, dairy products are responsible for about 1% of these illnesses, he said.
“I compare drinking raw milk to playing Russian roulette,” O’Brien said. The more often people consume it, the greater the chance of getting sick, he added.
Despite the risks, about 4.4% of U.S. adults — nearly 11 million people — report drinking raw milk at least once a year, and about 1% say they consume it every week, according to a 2022 FDA study.
Bonni Gilley, 75, of Fresno, said she raised generations of her family on raw milk and unpasteurized cream and butter because she believes “it’s very healthy” and has no additives.
Reports of bird flu in dairy cattle didn’t make her think twice about drinking raw milk, Gilley said.
“It’s actually accelerating my thoughts about raw milk,” she said, in part because she doesn’t trust government officials.
Such views are part of a larger problem of government distrust and rejection of expertise, said Matthew Motta, who studies health misinformation at Boston University.
“It’s not that people are stupid or ignorant or don’t know what science is,” he said. “They are motivated to reject it based on their partisanship, their political ideology, their religion, their cultural values.”
CDC and FDA officials did not respond to questions about the growing popularity of raw milk.
Motta suggested agencies should push back on social media posts extolling the health effects of pasteurized milk.
“Communicators need to make an effort to understand why people consume raw milk and try to meet them where they are,” he said.
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