Raw milk, also known as unpasteurized milk, is milk that has not been pasteurized.  While some Internet proponents claim that raw milk has special nutritional properties, most respected health experts agree that any health benefits offered by unpasteurized milk are also provided by pasteurized milk.

While unpasteurized milk does not provide significant health advantages over pasteurized milk, it does carry significantly greater health risks. Unpasteurized milk is more likely to contain harmful bacteria and other pathogens that may cause people who consume the milk to become sick. These bacteria are naturally occurring in cattle and even on the cleanest farms they can enter the milk. It doesn’t take much to cause serious illness.

Hear one mother describe the health impacts of raw milk-related illness on her child.

While a very small portion of the population consumes unpasteurized milk, there are a disproportionate number of illnesses associated with it. In the last few months, major outbreaks have been reported in Oregon, California, Pennsylvania and Missouri. In recent years, outbreaks have been reported in many states including Minnesota. This has prompted a long list of respected public health organizations to warn consumers against consuming unpasteurized milk.  That list includes:

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Minnesota Department of Health
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Veterinary Medical Association
• National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians

If you are interested in consuming raw milk, do your homework on the potential health risks by collecting information from multiple, respected sources of public health information.

WHAT IS MINNESOTA’S LAW REGARDING RAW MILK?

Due to the potential risks associated with consuming unpasteurized milk, Minnesota law restricts the sale of this type of milk for human consumption. The law does provide an alternative for people who want to consume unpasteurized milk. On an occasional basis, consumers may go directly to farms to secure the unpasteurized milk directly from the farmer.

WHAT IS MDA’S STANCE ON THIS ISSUE?

One of the core elements of MDA’s mission is to protect the integrity of the food supply.  That means regulating the food sector in a way that allows people to have confidence that food offered for sale has safeguards in place to prevent foodborne illness. MDA also has the responsibility to enforce the state’s food safety laws as written and passed by the state legislature. Minnesota law allows the sale of unpasteurized milk so long as it occurs on the farm at which the milk was produced. Any sale of unpasteurized milk that takes place off the farm is a violation of state law.

WHAT IS PASTEURIZATION?

Pasteurization is the process of heating milk for a set period of time to a set temperature to kill bacteria. By heating the milk, bacteria that can cause human illnesses are killed or inactivated. Pasteurization has been used for many decades to kill bacteria when milk is processed for bottling or the production of other dairy products.