It’s legal to drink raw milk in all 50 states. But it’s legal to sell it in only 28 states.
Congress has never passed a ban on raw milk. Yet the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has used its regulatory authority to raid farms and prosecute farmers for distributing raw milk.
It’s time to protect farmers from raw milk raids, and make it legal and easy for consumers to buy raw milk.
TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Member of Congress to support your right to choose raw milk by supporting H.R. 5410, the Interstate Milk Freedom Act
The Interstate Milk Freedom Act (H.R. 5410) simply says that if two states have legalized the sale of unpasteurized milk, then no federal department, agency or court may take any action to prohibit or restrict the interstate traffic of milk between those two states.
This bill would prohibit the federal government from interfering with the interstate traffic of raw milk products between states where distribution or sale of such products is already legal.
If we want this bill to gain traction, your member of Congress needs to hear from you!
Raw milk laws vary from state to state. There are restrictions on the amount you can sell, where you can sell it and how many conspicuous “unpasteurized” signs you need on your farm stand.
In some states, you can’t even advertise that you have raw milk let alone sell it in a farmer’s market. In other states, direct farm-to-customer, or “herd share” sales of raw milk are totally illegal.
Raw milk’s health benefits are well documented. Yet the FDA justifies its farm raids by claiming that raw milk poses health hazards.
An entire section of the FDA’s website is devoted to warning Americans about the “dangers” of raw milk. There it states that more than 1,900 people in the U.S. became sick from raw milk from 1993 to 2012.
This is 100 people per year, on average, in a country where 48 million people get sick from foodborne illness annually.
Is it possible to get sick from drinking raw milk?
Yes! But, you’re far more likely to be infected with a foodborne illness when eating any number of foods, other than high-quality raw milk.
It’s time for the FDA, which is so lax in its regulation of GMOs and junk food, to give consumers choice—and access-—when it comes to raw milk.
Dozens of scientific studies demonstrate raw milk’s health benefits, including:
• Protection against the development of allergies and asthma, as well as rhinitis, otitis and other respiratory tract infections.
• Higher pulmonary function.
• Protection against the development of atopic diseases, such as eczema, asthma and rhinoconjunctivitis, and an increase in the number of regulatory T-cells, which are important for preventing autoimmune disease.
Raw milk is a complex substance containing many bioactive components that can be destroyed during commercial processing. These include whey proteins, immunoglobulins, omega-3 fats and microRNAs.
There are so many real problems with our food system, including the health risks associated with highly processed foods. It’s time to push Congress to stop criminalizing the sale of raw milk.