Group of doctors calls for ban on raw milk – as it becomes increasingly popular in the US | Food security

As raw milk becomes increasingly popular among Americans, several disease outbreaks linked to the product have recently occurred, alarming public health officials.

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for a ban on the sale of unpasteurized milk in the United States.

More people have started drinking raw milk, doctors say, thanks to influencers who have touted its health benefits; Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US Secretary of Health, who promoted it until recently; and a lack of trust in government regulators.

But there is no evidence that it reduces lactose problems, can cure allergies and boost immunity, say the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and public health groups. And while raw milk producers say pasteurization eliminates flavor and health benefits, public health officials say it keeps people safe.

“I worry about people consuming raw milk because while it doesn’t guarantee you’ll get sick, there’s a relatively high chance that you could get a pathogen, a bacteria, that will make you sick,” said Petra Levin, a biology professor at the University of Washington.

American companies began using pasteurization, a process in which milk is heated to destroy pathogens and bacteria, in the late 19th century. As more producers adopted the practice and regulators began requiring it, the country saw a dramatic decrease in the infant mortality rate. In 1987, the FDA banned the interstate sale and distribution of raw milk, but companies were still allowed to sell it within their states, based on their laws.

This century, more Americans have begun consuming raw milk, and over the past decade many states have relaxed their milk regulations. In 2024, sales of raw milk will increase by 17.6%, according to market research firm Circana.

Before becoming Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy said on stage that he only drank raw milk and vowed that the FDA’s “war on public health is about to end,” including its “aggressive phaseout” of raw milk.

Once in office, he took a dose of raw milk with Dr. Paul Saladino, psychiatrist and author of The Carnivore Code — but to the dismay of some in the industry, Kennedy apparently stopped defending him. The Trump administration is now promoting whole milk.

Ben Beichler “fell in love” with dairy cows while farming, and eventually he and his wife started their own operation, Creambrook Farm, in Virginia. They now milk 150 cows and sell raw milk legally through a “herd share” loophole that allows consumers to buy a share of a cow.

He describes the Covid-19 pandemic as a “major game changer” for his business, as people began to think more about how they could protect themselves against the disease.

Additionally, “for better or worse, I think there’s a skepticism in society that didn’t exist before Covid, and people are willing to question things more than before. So it’s made people question a lot of their dietary needs,” Beichler said. “I’m not necessarily saying the skepticism has been a good thing.”

Since 2020, its sales have increased between 30% and 50% per year, he specifies.

As evidence of the benefits of raw milk, Beichler and others cite studies such as a 2011 report in the journal Clinical & Experimental Allergy that stated that “consumption of farm milk may offer protection against asthma and allergies.”

But the FDA says advocates misused the results because about half of the farm milk studied in the study was boiled. Furthermore, the authors stated that they could not assess “the effect of pasteurized milk consumption compared to raw milk consumption because no objective confirmation of the raw milk status of farm milk samples was available.”

“At this stage, the consumption of raw farm milk cannot be recommended as a preventative measure,” specify the authors of the study.

To ensure the safety of its milk, Beichler said, its farm tests each batch in its lab and then sends samples to a third-party lab. He declined to give his name but said he would provide it to customers who asked.

His farm only has five stars on Google.

“An honest, wholesome family that can provide safe, nutrient-rich milk to the many people who drink raw milk today,” one review says.

Despite his confidence in raw milk, Beichler said “the consumer has to be judicious” about “where they get it.”

This summer, more than 100 people became ill after consuming raw milk and 11 were hospitalized, according to National Public Radio. A E.coli This year’s outbreak in California, Florida and Texas was also linked to cheese from the nation’s largest raw milk distributor, Raw Farm. Most of those who fell ill were children aged three or younger.

Dr. Brian Dawes, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University, said raw milk is particularly dangerous for children because “they have weaker immune systems, lower overall physiological reserves, so when they get these infections, they tend to get much sicker.”

He supports the ban on raw milk. He said he also believes public health leaders “have their work cut out for them to really regain public trust in the systems that have worked for milk for over 100 years, keeping people safe.”