Here's the untold story of raw milk. Raw or pasteurized? It should be your choice.

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May 27, 2025

*Originally published 5/20/22. Updated 5/27/25.

Raw milk has been a highly contested issue in modern history.

Is it a healthy nutrient-dense “cure-all” for nourishing your body, or is it a dangerous vector for spreading life-threatening disease? The two camps are split. It is a complicated issue with mixed battles of bad science vs. personal testimony, morals vs. politics, education vs. advertising, and big agri-business vs. small farms.

Let's dive in...

A Brief History of Raw Milk

Nutrient-dense fresh raw milk has been a staple food for many cultures worldwide for a loooong time.

I mean, humans started drinking it thousands of years ago. It just made sense. It was a part of agriculture, but it looked a lot different then than it does today. In the beginning, a family or community would share a dairy cow. The cow would live outside and eat the pasture that was naturally present.

Over time, farmers specializing in dairy became a thing. They would keep the cows, do the milking, and provide milk for the greater community. They would hand milk, cool it in fresh spring water, and transport it with horse-drawn carts.

Raw milk was nourishing, providing moisture, protein, and nutrients. It would help people have food through cold winters. And the milk could be preserved into cheese for long trips and to build up food storage.

This has never been a problem until recent history.

During the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s, whisky and milk were the two most popular beverages. A cutthroat entrepreneur came up with the revolutionary idea to confine cows in a factory-like setting, make them stand still, and force feed them the hot grain byproduct from making whiskey, which is called "swill". Definitely not natural for a cow!

This fresh raw milk was accessible to people in cities. Remember, cars weren't the norm then, so getting milk from farms outside the cities and keeping it cool was a major operation. This milk was also cheap to produce. I mean, the feed was a by-product that was basically free. Milk "farmed" like this was popular, but...

Produced in these unclean and unnatural conditions, this blue-tinted “swill milk” made many people sick and led to many deaths. This was a true public health issue, resulting in many infant deaths and a rise in life threatening illness.

This historical pinpoint is the origin of raw milk getting its bad reputation.

Policy makers and businesses had two options: (1) Higher quality farming practices in city or rural dairies; or (2) Pushing infected products from unhealthy animals.

Can you guess which choice big business made?

The swill milk industry chose to mask the symptoms of swill milk by using additives like plaster, chalk, sugar, eggs, starch, flour, and pigments. These “bad” distillery dairies gave “good” small clean dairies a bad name.

Eventually this truly horrid milk was busted for harboring deadly diseases. Pasteurization was presented as a cheap solution.

Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a scientist who promoted pasteurization as a way to make milk safe for consumption. Philanthropist Nathan Strauss (1848-1931), co-owner of Macy’s, jumped on the pasteurization bandwagon and created milk factories that sterilized diseased milk. He, along with other big dairy owners, used his wealth to influence government agencies and advertise pasteurized milk to the public, including scary fake news articles in popular magazines.

Of course, there’s always the flip side: Better standards for clean raw milk production.

The Certified Milk Movement was led by Dr. Henry Coit (1854-1917). Dr. Coit believed in milk as a necessary healthy food. He influenced and created the Medical Milk Commission and its standards to ensure production of clean, healthy raw milk from small farms.

However, this milk cost 4x more than the unclean kind. Given the advertising efforts of the pasteurized milk businesses, can you guess which milk the public latched onto? Yup, pasteurized milk.

And the story goes on in a similar manner throughout the 1900s, with the two sides being divided and working against each other.

Big agri-business advertises and lobbies for pasteurized milk (Got Milk?), which can be produced more cheaply. Small farms and families fight for their right to choose what foods are healthy to consume.

Raw Milk Laws Today

The biggest game changer for raw milk access happened in 1987. Ronald Reagan promoted the ban on interstate commerce of raw milk to the FDA, and it became law.

Goodbye, free market. This devastated (and continues to devastate) small farmers and the families that choose to consume raw milk.

The 35-year-old ban means that, even though a farm like ours can be legally certified by the State of Pennsylvania for raw milk production for humans, we can sell that milk in Pennsylvania only.

Raw milk for human consumption cannot be sold across state lines. Raw milk laws change state by state. You can view a real milk legal map here.

For example, New Jersey’s laws do not allow raw dairy for humans at all. We cannot legally deliver raw milk for human consumption to NJ. However, a person from NJ can drive to PA, buy or pick up milk, and then drive back to their home and consume it. That’s perfectly legal.

Additionally, no US government recognizes fresh raw dairy products (cream, butter, yogurt, kefir, etc) as fit for human consumption in any capacity.

No US farm is permitted to sell these foods for human consumption (with some “gray area” exception for herd shares in some states).

And I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous. If a state allows raw milk for humans. Why not cream? It’s the same thing!

With the proper certifications and paperwork, raw dairy for pets is legal, even across state lines.

Miller’s Bio Farm believes in raw. That’s why we offer a huge selection of raw A2/A2 dairy for cats & dogs. Even if we can only sell it and support the health of your furry family members, we’ll do it. We believe that it’s a step, albeit small, in the right direction.

And gee, if we could get all of our raw dairy certified for humans, we sure would!

It's important to note that raw cheese aged at least 60 days and under the right conditions is also legal across state lines.

This law is based on scientific evidence showing that aging cheese for 60 days under proper conditions produces chemical activity in the cheese that kills harmful bacteria.

Side Note: The cottage laws in Pennsylvania allow someone to get certified to prepare food in their home kitchen (beef jerky, cookies, jams, salsa, etc) and legally sell it across state lines. It makes me think: Is certified raw milk potentially more dangerous than this?

The Future of Raw Milk

Miller’s Bio Farm will continue to advocate for high quality, low risk raw dairy for humans. Here are 4 reasons why.

1. There are many proven health benefits.

2. The food landscape has changed. With the rise of eCommerce and delivery services, our food world is expanding. State by state laws don’t make as much sense anymore.

3. Modern technology allows us to produce an ultra low risk raw product. We have meticulous safety standards and test every batch of milk on site. You can learn more about our milk safety standards and view our test results here. We’re meeting the requirements for pasteurized dairy plus some. We follow these standards for both human and pet dairy products.

4. People who want raw dairy will get it no matter what. If raw milk is not legalized, then the government is ultimately supporting black market milk (just like marijuana, folks). Now, that’s really not good and could be potentially dangerous.

Even if we cannot provide raw dairy products for everyone everywhere now, we have hope for a better food future. A future filled with honesty, transparency, safety, and choice.

Yes, the two camps are split. But, perhaps both are in the right, depending on the situation.

It is undoubtedly true that unpasteurized milk produced in unclean conditions can be very dangerous. However, it is also true that clean raw milk can be a completely safe and nutritious food choice, especially with modern refrigeration, transportation, and testing technology.

I would hope there is a way for both points of view to co-exist, to agree to disagree, and create policies that allow for basic human choice to consume what they view as healthy.

Let’s put a little more perspective on it, too. Is food and raw dairy really that dangerous?

The CDC estimates that there are about 3,000 deaths from food-borne illnesses every year. About 46% percent come from produce (mostly leafy greens), 22% from meat or poultry, and 14% from dairy.

From 1993-2006, there have been 3 deaths attributed to raw dairy. That's 0.23 deaths per year, which means raw dairy accounts for 0.008% of all deaths attributed to food-borne illnesses.

There are 35,000+ deaths from automobile accidents every year. You tell me. What should be our biggest concern?

What do you think? Would you change the raw milk laws? How? Has modern eCommerce, food delivery services, and safety technologies changed the food world, and should the laws change too? Why is raw milk still so vilified?

I’d love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required) or contact us .

If you are interested in learning more about raw milk history and laws, I recommend the very informative videos created by Nourishing Liberty or perusing the realmilk.com website.

PS: Miller’s Bio Farm believes in raw. But, more than that, we believe in choice. That’s why we offer raw dairy as well as lightly pasteurized and minimally processed A2/A2 dairy. We make the best of both, and the choice is yours!

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How to know if you can trust your raw milk farm

*Originally published on 1/13/26, Updated on 2/01/26.* I know how hard it is to find clean raw milk from a farm you can actually trust. You may have spent hours researching farms, reading reviews, asking questions in Facebook groups. Maybe you’ve even driven out to visit farms, met the farmers, looked at their operations. Or maybe you've been burned before by a farm that talked a good game but cut corners. Or maybe you're still searching for that one farm where you can feel completely confident giving their milk to your kids.So let me tell you what happened here in the last few weeks, because this story will show you exactly who we are, and more importantly, it might help you figure out what to look for in any farm you're considering trusting with your family's health. The first email It started the day after Christmas. A customer emailed in saying she wasn't feeling well after drinking our raw milk. Then, a day or two later, another email. Another customer, same story. The team got the details from them, the label color and the dates on the milk. My stomach dropped, it was my brother John's milk. Now here's what most farms would've done, and I'm being completely honest with you. They would've thought "it's only two people out of hundreds, it's January, it's flu season, the flu is spreading like wildfire right now, it's probably just that" and moved on with their day. Maybe they would've made a mental note to keep an ear out for more complaints, but that would've been it. I tried to tell myself the same thing that night. "It's probably nothing. It's flu season. These things happen." But I couldn't sleep. Because what if it wasn't nothing? What if there was even a small chance that something was wrong with our milk, and we did nothing about it? A tough decision I then contacted a DHIA to come out to test the milk. See, we'd already done our regular testing, the testing we do on every single batch that isn't even required by law. But those two emails kept replaying in my head. We needed to know for sure. We sent the milk samples to the state lab that day. Then came the hardest part, the waiting. If you've ever waited for medical test results, you know that feeling. Every hour feels like a day. You check your email or phone constantly. You play out every possible scenario in your head. And since we were now working with the state the test result didn't come back instantly, it took 2 weeks. The result that changed everything When the State inspector stopped in Thursday the 8th they confirmed the testing results."Positive for Campylobacter." We’ve been doing this a long time. Through every season, every challenge, and every batch of milk, we’ve never had a positive Campylobacter test. That’s not luck, it’s the result of how seriously we take producing clean, safe raw milk. I sat there just processing it. The inspector then let John know that we couldn't use his milk until it was clean again. What happened next Immediately we'd pulled all of John's milk from going out the door. Then I started drafting an email, one that had to be sent to over 800 trusting customers. Every single family who had purchased milk from us and possibly John's farm in the affected timeframe. Some people thanked us for being proactive and honest. Some were understandably upset, and they had every right to be. A few were scared. I told a few to call or email back if they had concerns or if anyone in their family started feeling sick. Those were some of the hardest phone calls and emails I've ever answered. But every single one of those families deserved to hear it directly from us, not from a recall notice in the mail, a news station, or a post on social media. The State gets involved The State inspector put John's farm under official quarantine on 1/8. That means no milk leaves his farm until we get two consecutive clean tests, taken at least a week apart. The farm is certified for raw milk production in PA. That's why the State got involved. *Side note: If a farm was NOT certified and is operating with a PMA (private membership) or just on the black market, none of the above would have happened. What's going on with the state of our raw milk right now? If you're a current customer reading this, here's what you need to know: Your milk is safe.Look at the bottles in your fridge right now. See those colored "best by" stickers? Blue, orange, and green? That's our farm identification system. We implemented this color-coding years ago as an extra safety measure, a way to quickly trace every bottle back to its source farm. At the time, it seemed like overkill. Now I'm incredibly grateful we did it, because that system is exactly what allowed us to identify which specific farm the issue came from within hours and protect everyone else. Right now, you're only receiving milk from our three other farms: Ben’s farm, David’s farm, and Daniel’s farm. All three have tested completely clean. All three are operating under the exact same safety standards they always have. All three continue to be inspected regularly by the state and tested by us with every single batch.If you see blue, green, or orange stickers on your milk, you're good. If you happen to have bottles with different colored stickers and you're concerned, please give us a call or send us an email. But based on our testing timeline and distribution records, the affected milk has already been consumed or disposed of. Our testing standards and why they matter to us Let me pull back the curtain and show you exactly what goes into keeping your milk safe, both what the law requires and what we do beyond that. What Pennsylvania Law Requires:The State of Pennsylvania doesn't mess around with raw milk safety. And honestly, we're glad they don't. Here's what they require to have a raw milk permit: Our milk is tested for general bacteria counts twice per month at state-certified laboratories.Our farms are physically inspected every three months specifically for raw milk production safety standards.Our cows are tested twice per year for pathogens at state-certified labs.We undergo standard dairy inspections twice per year (these are separate from the raw milk inspections).**These aren't suggestions. These are legal requirements, and farms that don't meet them lose their raw milk licenses. What we do beyond these requirements: Here's where we go further than the law requires, and this is important: We test every single batch of our milk, on-site, before it goes out to customers.YES. Every. Single. Batch.We test for:TCC (Total Coliform Count) - this tells us about general sanitary conditionsSPC (Standard Plate Count) - this tells us the overall bacteria levels The state doesn't require this batch-by-batch testing. Most raw milk farms don't do it because the testing equipment is expensive and it takes time and expertise. We do it anyway because when you're trusting us with your family's health, "meeting the minimum requirements" isn't good enough for us. We also have super meticulous cleaning standards. After we started testing every batch, we were able to see how much cleaning affects milk quality. For this reason, our barns and milking parlors are much cleaner than the average barn. We have the data to know it matters... a lot. Plus we have extra hot water for cleaning. We know that matters, too. Check out our milk safety here. The real question is who can you trust in the raw milk game? Here's what I've learned about trust in the raw milk world: Any farm can talk about their safety standards when everything's going smoothly. Any farm can show you their clean barns and happy cows and tell you all the right things when you visit. But… you truly know who a farm really is by what they do when something goes wrong. Think about it. We could've ignored those two phone calls and convinced ourselves it was just the flu. We could've done the bare minimum, waited for the state's regular testing to maybe catch it, or maybe not. We could've quietly stopped using John's milk without telling anyone why. We could've sent out a vague email about "an abundance of caution" without admitting what actually happened. Instead, we: Took those two complaints seriously immediately, even when it would've been easier to dismiss them.Ordered extra testing on our own dime without being required to.Shut down production with John’s milk the moment we got a positive result.Emailed every potentially affected customer.Voluntarily reported to the state before they found it themselves. Are being completely transparent with you right now, even though it's embarrassing and painful and might make customers lose trust and go somewhere else.I'm not telling you this to pat ourselves on the back. I'm telling you this because this is what you should demand from any farm you're considering. Not perfection, no farm can guarantee perfection, and any farm that claims they can is lying. But you deserve a farm that will tell you the truth and do the right thing when problems happen. Questions you should ask ANY raw dairy farm:If you're shopping around for a raw milk source, here are the questions you should be asking:"Do you do any testing beyond what the state requires?"If they say no, that's not necessarily a dealbreaker. Plenty of farms only do state-required testing and produce perfectly safe milk. But if they say yes, ask them to explain exactly what they test for and how often. Farms that go the extra mile will be proud to tell you about it in detail."Can I see your most recent state inspection report?"By law, these are public records. A good farm will show you without hesitation. If they dodge this question or get defensive, walk away."How do you track which farm or batch milk comes from?"If they have multiple farms or multiple days of production, they need a tracking system. Our colored stickers might seem simple, but that simple system saved us in this situation. If they can't tell you how they'd trace a problem back to its source, that's a problem."Have you ever had to recall or stop production? What happened?"I wish I could tell you we've never had issues, but that would be dishonest. We had an issue a few years ago with RB51, a child was hospitalized from it. It was caused by the VACCINE strain of brucellosis. This is why we no longer allow cows in our herds who have been vaccinated for brucellosis. What matters is how farms handle those situations. When it comes to food, it's not a matter of IF but WHEN with food safety. According to the CDC 1.5 million people are become ill from Campylobacter on a yearly basis. Most of these cases come from raw or undercooked poultry or raw poultry juices. So where do we go from here? Well, John's farm is under quarantine until we get two consecutive clean tests. The first round of retesting was Thursday the 8th and the results came back negative on 1/14. And then there's another test that was taken Monday 1/12 and the results from that test was also negative. He's checking the milking equipment, the cleaning protocols, the cow health, the water sources, everything. We're not cutting corners. We're not rushing this. We're doing it right, even if it takes months. In the meantime, your orders will keep coming from our three other farms. Same quality, same safety standards, same farmers who care deeply about what they're producing. Check those blue, green and orange stickers, that's your assurance of exactly where your milk is coming from. We're also reviewing our protocols across all four farms. Could we test more frequently? Should we upgrade equipment? Are there additional safety measures we should implement? We're asking ourselves hard questions and we're willing to invest whatever it takes to prevent this from happening again.Why are we telling you all of this? I debated whether to write this post. Part of me wanted to handle this quietly, just contact the affected customers and move on. It would be easier. Less risky. Less embarrassing. But that's not who we are, and more importantly, that's not what you deserve. You deserve to know. You deserve to know everything about your food, in good times and in bad. We're heartbroken this happened. Truly. But we're also rolling up our sleeves and doing everything right. We hope that we can earn back your trust. Because at the end of the day, trust isn't built by being perfect, it's built by being honest, being thorough, and doing the right thing even when it's hard.I know you probably have questions. Here are the most common ones we have been getting:Q: Should I be worried about the milk I already drank?A: If you drank milk from John's farm in the affected timeframe and you're feeling fine, you're almost certainly fine. The milk, whether in glass or plastic, would have had a white label on it with a date between 1/16-1/22. Plus, we directly emailed anyone who could have gotten that milk… so you would know.Q: How do I know if I’m sick because of Campylobacter?A. Campylobacter symptoms typically appear within 2-5 days. And symptoms can last up to 7 days. If you do develop symptoms (diarrhea, cramping, fever), hydrate, rest and nourish your body with bone broth, sourdough toast, bland foods (like a BRAT diet - bananas, rice, apples, and toast). Most cases resolve on their own.Q: How did this happen if you test every batch?A: That's exactly why we're investigating John’s cleaning protocols and farming standards. We're reviewing the timing of tests, storage protocols, everything. Once we know, we'll implement changes to help prevent something like this from happening again.Q: Will you use John’s farm’s milk in the future?A: If the milk is clean and the problem is resolved, yes we will. We will require two consecutive clean tests at least a week apart. And, we’ll need to identify and address the root cause. We won't rush this. Safety first, always.Q: Are you changing your safety protocols?A: We're reviewing everything right now. If we identify improvements we can make, we'll make them immediately across all farms. You can view our milk safety and protocols here: https://millersbiofarm.com/mil... The bottom lineWe believe raw milk should come from a place where questions are welcomed, testing is routine, and honesty isn’t conditional. We believe in the benefits of raw milk and all its wonderful properties. Raw milk is honestly incredible for your body when you think about what's actually in it. It's a complete, living food packed with natural enzymes, vitamins, healthy fatty acids, and powerful immune-boosting compounds like immunoglobulins that work with your body exactly as nature intended. Raw milk keeps all those beneficial bacteria that are amazing for your digestion and gut health. You're getting natural antimicrobials and probiotics that actively support your immune system and help your body thrive. It's basically the difference between drinking something truly alive and nourishing versus something that's been processed into a pale imitation of real milk. When you drink raw milk, you're getting all the goodness that's meant to be there, nothing destroyed, nothing missing, just pure nutrition the way it was designed to fuel and protect your body. *UPDATE 2/01/26 John's herd has now had 2 negatives and the milk is safe to use again so we are integrating his milk back into our production again. I'd love to hear from you. Comment below to share your thoughts with our community (no account required). Or, contact us to keep it private 😊 References: https://www.cdc.gov/campylobac...

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