BALTIMORE — Baltimore County Dairy Farmer, Haley Wilson starts her day by milking one of her 2 dozen cows. The batch goes to the calves and to Haley herself, but there’s a lot of cow-motion about people drinking raw milk.
“I grew up drinking raw milk. I’m almost 30 years old and I don’t have any extra limbs growing. I’ve never had diseases. I’ve never broken a bone. So raw milk in my opinion is absolutely healthy,” said Wilson.
Raw milk comes directly from the cow and has not been pasteurized. Store-bought milk has to go through a few steps before you can take a sip.
“It goes through two processes. It’s going to be homogenized which basically means that milk is going to be pushed through a small opening, kind of like a screen door,” said Wilson.
Homogenization breaks down the fat, preventing the cream from rising to the top. Then there’s pasteurization, which is a heating process that kills off bacteria and viruses.
“It’s not necessarily something that I want everyone to believe the same thing as me but I want everyone to have the choice. As long as your testing your herd, as long as your following the right protocols when it comes to cleanliness of your milking system, testing your animals to make sure they don’t have any bacteria or diseases. The milk we buy at the store goes through rigorous processes and raw milk should also be tested to make sure it's healthy,” said Wilson.
Some proponents of raw milk say it packs healthy benefits and it taste better. President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has been vocal about his support over raw milk. However, the CDC and FDA have warned of the potential risks from stomach cramping, to more severe cases of hospitalization and death.
“I haven’t seen any scientific evidence that supports specific health benefits from drinking raw milk. We do worry a lot about the bacteria and other pathogens that can be there and now everything has gotten even more concerning because of the H5N1 outbreak in dairy cows,” said Meghan Davis, Associate Professor with Johns Hopkins and a former dietary veterinarian.
In California, bird flu has been detected in a batch of raw milk sold in stores. At the time, no illnesses have been linked to this case.
Davis says when it comes to any disease in cows, it all comes down to the udder. Any virus that sheds goes right into the raw milk.
“I used to say for those dairy farmers who drink their raw milk, they live on the farm, they live with all the pathogens on the farm, they’re getting exposed by multiple routes, it’s between you and your cow. But H5N1 completely changed my mind,” said Davis.
The laws on being able to sell and purchase raw milk differ from state to state. In Maryland, raw milk can be sold but for pet use only.
“My big concern here is that cats can get extremely sick with neurological disease. It’s incredibly severe and it’s very common in cats that have been exposed to raw milk that have been contaminated with HFN1,” said Davis.
Davis says whatever your preferences are when it comes to milk, just make sure it’s pasteurized. Wilson feels that choice should be left up to the consumer.
“I want to decide what’s on my refrigerator shelf. Everyone doesn’t have to believe that it's great for you. You don’t have to have it in your kitchen but the fact that we don’t make it an option for people I think is controlling,” said Wilson.