RFK Jr. says he drinks raw milk. How safe is it?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that he drinks raw milk and has criticized the Food and Drug Administration over its “aggressive suppression” of products such as raw milk, which he suggested “advances human health.”

The nation’s health agencies have warned against this claim by Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services. “Unpasteurized milk can pose a serious health risk,” the FDA has said, and “raw milk can be a source of foodborne illness,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

We asked food scientists questions about raw milk and the pasteurization process.

What’s the difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk?

Raw milk is milk that hasn’t gone through pasteurization, the federally regulated process of heating milk to a specific temperature for a certain amount of time to eliminate human pathogens.

Most of the milk sold in stores in the United States is heated to above 161 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 seconds, but the exact temperature and time can vary, said Dennis D’Amico, an associate professor of animal science at the University of Connecticut. Companies may heat milk hotter and longer to extend the products’ shelf life.

Raw milk advocates claim unpasteurized milk has beneficial enzymes, probiotics and vitamins that make it nutritious and better than pasteurized milk. But food scientists who study the safety of dairy products said there’s no meaningful difference in the nutritional value of pasteurized milk. Milk can lose some vitamin C in the pasteurization process but “there’s hardly any vitamin C in the milk to begin with,” D’Amico said.

“That’s why it’s such an easy thing for the federal government to say there’s no reason to have raw milk,” he said. “It’s a risk that is not necessary.”

The enzymes found in raw milk are not useful for human digestion, and the potentially probiotic bacteria found in raw milk are present in “very, very low levels” that are not beneficial to the gut microbiota, said Nicole Martin, an assistant research professor in dairy foods microbiology at Cornell University.

Advocates for raw milk also say it tastes richer than pasteurized milk. Mark McAfee, chief executive and founder of Raw Farm in California, which sells raw-milk products, said his company’s “sales are off the charts” and that taste is the No. 1 reason his customers come back.

But D’Amico said the richer taste consumers report is probably because raw milk often has more fat than other store-bought milk, which is usually standardized to a certain percentage of fat content. Raw milk also tends to be consumed closer to when it’s collected and it isn’t usually homogenized, D’Amico said.

Does raw milk have lactose?

Raw milk has lactose, and those who are lactose intolerant may find it harder to digest.

Is raw milk safe to drink?

There’s an inherent risk of contracting a pathogen in raw milk, food scientists said.

Drinking unpasteurized milk is “a really stupid, bad idea,” said John Lucey, a professor of food science and the director of the Center for Dairy Research at University of Wisconsin at Madison. “It’s almost like a doctor shouldn’t wash their hands before they go into an operating room.”

Advocates for raw milk say the risk of potential pathogens can be mitigated through higher standards, as well as better training and testing at dairy farms.

Lucey, who said he grew up on a farm, said that even with the best intentions it’s not possible for a farmer to rule out the risk of contamination without the process of pasteurization.

“The cow sits down, the mammary gland is outside the cow, and it sits down in the manure and in the mud,” Lucey said.

Raw milk can contain bacteria such as Campylobacter, E. coli, salmonella and listeria that can cause diarrhea, stomach cramping and vomiting - what’s often considered food poisoning.

Most people recover quickly, according to the FDA. But the agency also says potential pathogens in raw milk “can be especially dangerous” for children, older adults, pregnant people and those with compromised immune systems. In serious cases, the bacteria can lead to kidney failure, Guillain-Barré syndrome and death.

“It really is just about risk. It’s not that every time someone consumes raw milk, they get sick,” Martin said. “But what it is is an increased risk of contracting a foodborne disease.”

According to the CDC, there were 202 outbreaks associated with drinking raw milk between 1998 and 2018, which caused 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations. (The agency added that this is probably an undercount of the illnesses that occur.) This year, there have been 10 recalls or warnings regarding raw-milk products, according to data compiled by the Center for Dairy Research.

Bird flu, or H5N1, continues to infect dairy cows. In October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it will start bulk testing raw milk for bird flu to catch outbreaks among dairy cattle. According to the agency, as of Wednesday, there were 277 “new confirmed cases” of bird flu in dairy cattle in California, Idaho and Utah in the past 30 days.

This year, there have been 46 human cases of bird flu in the United States, of which 25 are because of an outbreak in dairy cows, according to the CDC.

Federal officials consider the risk of most people catching the H5N1 virus to be low. They also say pasteurization kills the virus.

What about raw cheese?

Harder cheeses such as Parmigiano-Reggiano are safe to eat, despite the use of raw milk, because the combination of acid, salt and low levels of moisture creates a stressful environment for bacteria to survive, D’Amico said. These cheeses are often aged for several months for any potential pathogens to die off.

But softer, high-moisture raw milk cheeses such as queso fresco often have lower acidity and more moisture, which are conditions pathogens can survive or even grow in, D’Amico said.

Is raw milk illegal?

Some states such as California allow the sale of raw milk in stores, and other states allow consumers to purchase direct from farms or through herdshares. The federal government prohibits the sale of raw milk across state lines.

According to the CDC, greater access to unpasteurized milk has led to more associated outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, based on U.S. data from 2013 to 2018.